THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK    •    BOSTON  •    CHICAGO 
DALLAS   •    SAN   FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &   CO.,  Limited 

LONDON   •    BOMBAY   •    CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Ltd 

TORONTO 


ALL    THE    CHILDREN 

OF 

ALL   THE    PEOPLE 


A    STUDY    OF    THE    ATTEMPT   TO    EDUCATE 
EVERYBODY 


BY 


WILLIAM    HAWLEY   SMITH 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  EVOLUTION  OF  DODD  " 


THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 
1912 

All  rights  reserved 


OOPTKIOHT,  1912, 

By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.    Published  February,  1912. 


J.  8.  Gushing  Co.  —  Berwick  i  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 

A 


k 


TO    THE    READER 

However  reluctant  one  may  be  to  acknowledge  the 
fact,  it  is  none  the  less  certain  that  the  task  of  trying 
to  educate  everybody,  which  our  public  schools  are 
engaged  in,  has  proved  to  be  far  more  difficult  than 
the  originators  of  the  idea  of  such  a  possibility  thought 
it  would  be  when  they  set  out  upon  the  undertaking. 

This  is  a  mild  way  of  stating  a  most  important  truth. 

Moreover,  this  truth  is  steadily  forcing  its  way  into 
general  recognition  among  all  classes  and  conditions 
of  modern  society. 

All  people  who  are  interested  in  educational  affairs 
are  thinking  about  the  situation,  and  are  talking  about 
it  constantly,  both  in  private  and  in  public. 

Every  educational  meeting,  from  a  local  Teachers' 
Institute  to  the  annual  gathering  of  the  National  Edu- 
cational Association,  now  makes  this  condition  of  affairs 
the  chief  subject  of  its  attention,  its  addresses  and  dis- 
cussions. 

These  facts  all  prove  that  the  issue  of  attempting 
to  universalize  education  is  just  now  one  of  most  intense 
interest  and  importance.  It  follows  that,  since  the 
whole  subject  is  yet  in  an  unsettled,  not  to  say  ferment- 
ing, condition,  it  is  open  and  ready  for  the  most  careful 
study  and  consideration. 

It  is  because  all  these  things  are  so  that  I  have 
written  this  book,  which  I  hope  may  help  at  least  a 
little  toward  the  successful  solution  of  the  most  momen- 
tous problem  of  the  age. 

WILLIAM   HAWLEY   SMITH. 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

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CONTENTS 

PAGB 

To  THE  Reader  v 

CHAPTER 

I.    "Born  Short" i 

II.    "Born  Long" ii 

III.  Some  Comparisons  and  Conclusions  ...  20 

IV.  Nascitur  non  Fit      .        .        .        ...        .28 

V.    How  can  these  Things  be?        .        .        .        .38 

VI.    Some  Cases  in  Point 48 

VII.    Under  the  Threshold 58 

VIII.    Some  Darker  Studies 67 

IX.    What  Follows? 78 

X.    Again  the  Body 88 

XL    Strictly  between  Ourselves      ....  99 

XII.    Some  Whys  and  Wherefores     ....  109 

XIII.  Bits  of  History 112 

XIV.  More  Bits  of  History 118 

XV.    Some  Results 127 

XVI.    What  is  Wrong  in  All  This?    ....  139 

XVII.    Can  Anything  be  done  to  help  these  Matters?  146 
XVIII.     The  Law  of  the  Individual        .        .        .        .152 
XIX.    What    is    Education?     Who    are    Educated 

Men? 159 

XX.    What  Education  must  do  for  the  Child        .  169 

XXI.    Sympathetic  Vibration 176 

XXII.    Educational  Values i86 

XXIII.  Concerning  Courses  of  Study,  Diplomas,  etc.  196 

XXIV.  Some  Other  Changes 209 

vii 


vm 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

XXV.  Examinations 216 

XXVI.  Shooting  to  Hit 228 

XXVII.  Just  a  Little  about  Teachers        .        .        .  237 

XXVIII.  The  Parental  Factor 251 

XXIX.  Concerning  Institutions 261 

XXX.  "Making  an  Act" 277 

XXXI.  Manipulation 287 

XXXII.  Reading  and  Literature 294 

XXXIII.  Some  Things  about  Methods   ....  306 

XXXIV.  Morals  and  Religion 315 

XXXV.  The  Common  Sense  of  it  All  ....  328 


"The  great  problem  of  the  present  day  is  to  reconcile  the 
traditions  of  the  universities  and  the  cult  of  the  humanities 
with  the  growth  of  the  scientific  spirit."  —  m,  mauricb 
Steeg.  " 

"Education  is  growth,  development;  it  is  not  creation."  — 
From  Wise  Sayings, 

"I  never  saw  a  hen  yet  could  hatch  out  of  an  egg  anything 
different  from  what  was  in  it  when  it  was  laid."  —  Old  Irish 
Woman, 

"  No  man  is  really  well  educated  who  is  not  *  onto  his  job.'  " 
— From  Sayings  of  an  Engineer, 

"Anything  and  everything  that  any  individual  child  natu- 
rally 'hums  to'  is  educative  for  that  child."  —  From  Sym- 
pathetic Vibration, 


ALL  THE   CHILDREN   OF  ALL 
THE    PEOPLE 

CHAPTER   I 

"BORN   SHORT" 

Prefatory   Remark  —  Babies  not   "  all  alike "  —  The   Myth  of  the 
"Wholly  Normal"  and  the  "Perfectly  Rounded"  Child  or  Adult 

—  Our  Own  Instinctive  Feeling  vs.  the  Popular  Notion  in  the 
Premises  —  Everybody  "  Born  Short "  somewhere  —  Range  of  the 
Condition —  Brief  List  of  Cases  in  Point  —  Color- Blind  and  Tone- 
Deaf  People  —  The  Phenomena  of  "  Shortage  "  in  Lower  Grade 
Pupils  in  the  Public  Schools  —  Pupil  who  could  read  to  himself, 
but  not  aloud  —  Pupil  who  could  not  learn  Multiplication  Tables 

—  Author's  Experience  regarding  Inability  to  memorize  Dates  or 
master  Classical  Languages  —  Teacher  and  Judge  who  could  not 
"tell  Time"  —  People  who  cannot  tell  Right  Hand  from  Left  — 
Eminent  Men  who  cannot  spell  —  Julia  Ward  Howe  on  Charles 
Sumner  —  Shaler  on  Agassiz  —  General  Grant  —  The  Meaning 
of  these  Data. 

In  considering  the  practicability  of  the  attempt  to 
educate  all  the  children  of  all  the  people,  the  whole 
issue  turns  on  the  natures  of  the  children  themselves, 
their  inherent  powers  and  capabilities,  individually  and 
de  novo. 

These  elemental  factors  in  the  make-up  of  all  children 
I  have  carefully  investigated  for  many  years,  and  it 
is  specifically  on  the  strength  of  the  data  thus  col- 
lected that  I  begin  these  studies  of  the  subject  of  popu- 
lar education. 


2  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

There  is  a  certain  type  of  man  who  is  wont  to  remark, 
on  occasion :  '*  All  babies  look  alike  to  me."  Yet  the 
first  mother  he  meets  will  tell  him  that  what  he  says  is 
based  on  the  most  superficial  observation,  and  that  he 
"doesn't  know  what  he  is  talking  about." 

All  my  own  observations  have  forced  me  to  acknowl- 
edge the  fact  that  there  is  a  marked  difference  in  chil- 
dren, even  at  the  time  of  their  birth,  a  difference  so 
pronounced  that  it  is  perfectly  safe  to  say  that  no  two 
of  them  are  exactly  alike.  And  just  as  soon  as  these 
bits  of  infantile  humanity  begin  to  show  their  mental 
efficiencies  or  inefficiencies,  these  differences  become 
more  and  more  manifest.  As  infancy  advances  into 
childhood,  childhood  into  youth,  and  youth  into  maturity, 
these  primal  qualities  intensify  their  distinguishing  marks 
upon  each  soul,  and  brand  it  as  itself  and  not  any  other 
in  all  the  world.  This  is  the  core  of  all  individuality. 
That  is,  it  is  not  uniformity,  but  diversity,  that  constitutes 
the  fundamental  element  which  makes  a  human  being 
what  he  is. 

A  moment's  thought  upon  this  proposition  will  re- 
sult in  the  conclusion  that  the  "  wholly  normal "  individ- 
ual, one  who  tallies  exactly  and  at  all  points  to  uniform 
specifications  made  and  provided,  does  not  exist,  and 
that  the  "  perfectly  rounded  "  child  or  adult  is  a  myth, 
and  so  cannot  be  figured  with  definitely. 

So  far  as  we  are  ourselves  concerned,  we  each  one 
instinctively  feel  and  positively  know  that  these  things 
are  as  I  have  stated  them;  but  the  popular  theory  re- 
garding them  is  quite  the  reverse  of  the  way  I  have  put 
them,  so  much  so  as  to  obscure,  almost  entirely,  the 
facts  in  the  case.  At  least  this  is  true,  that  their  sig- 
nificance, as  they  stand  related  to  individual  possibilities 


"BORN  SHORT"  3 

in  the  affairs  of  life,  is  not  recognized  as  it  should  be 
in  the  theories  and  practices  for  human  development 
that  prevail  to-day. 

Stated  in  another  way,  —  for  I  wish  to  emphasize  this 
point  from  the  beginning,  —  we  are  all  aware,  in  our 
inmost  hearts,  that  we  are  not  equally  strong  in  every 
part  of  our  make-up,  and  that  we  were  born  that  way. 
That  is,  as  I  have  phrased  it  at  the  heading  of  this 
chapter,  we  all  know  that  we  are  "  born  short "  some- 
where; that  in  some  spheres  in  the  mental  plane  we 
do  not  function  as  readily  as  we  do  in  some  others. 
We  all  know  this. 

And  because  we  all  know  this  —  because  I  know  it, 
and  everybody  I  have  ever  known  or  known  about  or 
have  heard  of  knows  it  —  I  feel  fully  warranted  in  mak- 
ing the  inductive  conclusion  that  everybody  in  all  the 
world  is  "  born  short "  somewhere.  Such  shortage  may 
be  so  slight  in  some  individuals  as  to  escape  the  notice 
of  all  but  the  expert,  or  it  may  be  so  much  in  evidence 
in  other  cases  as  to  be  noticed  by  everybody  at  a  glance. 
It  may  vary  all  the  way  from  a  minor  idiosyncrasy  to 
blank  idiocy.  But  in  its  manifestations  in  these  two  ex- 
tremes, and  all  the  way  between  them,  the  phenomena 
belong  in  the  same  category ;  they  are  but  quantitative 
exploitations  of  one  and  the  same  psychological  con- 
dition. 

These  facts,  and  their  complements,  which  will  be 
considered  later,  form  the  very  "  central  heart"  of  the 
possibility  of  educating  everybody. 

To  analyze  and  make  a  list  of  such  shortages,  as  they 
appear  in  all  the  varieties  of  humanity  that  the  world 
holds,  would  be  an  endless  task,  and  volumes  could  not 
contain  the  record,  though  it  would  all  be  germane  to 


4  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

the  issue  I  am  considering.  All  I  care  to  do  here,  how- 
ever, is  to  note  enough  of  the  phenomena  to  form  a 
base  for  the  educational  theory  I  have  in  mind  to  stand 
upon. 

Cases  in  point  are  as  thick  as  blackberries,  whichever 
way  one  looks,  if  only  he  has  eyes  to  see ;  and  one 
such  Hst,  which  any  one  might  make,  would  be  as  good 
as  another  for  all  practical  purposes.  I  claim  no  special 
merit  for  the  list  I  am  about  to  give.  But  since  I  must 
have  such  data  to  start  with,  I  submit  what  follows. 
Most  of  the  cases  cited  have  come  under  my  own  per- 
sonal observation,  and  all  the  others  are  vouched  for  by 
the  most  reliable  witnesses. 

Here  then  is  my  list  —  the  data  on  which  the  first 
part  of  my  argument  is  based  :  — 

My  attention  was  first  called  to  the  fact  that  there  is 
such  a  condition  as  lack  of  ability  to  function  in  some 
mental  plane  —  that  all  human  beings  are  not  alike  in 
what  they  can  do  with  their  minds  —  when  I  was  little 
more  than  a  child,  through  my  association  with  two  of 
my  youthful  mates,  one  of  whom  was  color-blind  and 
the  other  tone-deaf.  The  first  was  a  neighbor  boy  who 
could  not  distinguish  red  from  green.  He  could  per- 
ceive no  difference  between  the  color  of  a  red  rose  and 
the  green  foliage  of  the  bush  on  which  it  grew.  The 
second  was  a  little  girl  who  could  not  "rise  and  fall 
her  eight  notes  "  at  singing  school.  She  sat  near  me  in 
the  class,  and  I  suffered  the  tortures  of  the  lost  (for  I 
have  a  very  keen  musical  ear)  from  being  compelled  to 
hear  her  monotone  droning  through  the  songs  the  rest 
of  us  could  sing  as  they  were  written.  These  two  cases 
made  a  great  impression  upon  me,  and  I  have  never  for- 
gotten them. 


"BORN  SHORT"  5 

Later  in  life,  as  a  teacher  in  the  public  schools,  I 
found  "  shortages"  or  "  lacks  "  cropping  out,  to  a  greater 
or  less  degree,  in  all  the  pupils  who  came  under  my 
tuition.  The  phenomena  began  to  show  in  the  first 
year's  work,  and  there  were  signs  of  the  same  qualities, 
more  or  less  pronounced,  in  each  several  pupil,  till  he  or 
she  dropped  out  of  school  or  graduated. 

Thus,  I  found  pupils  who  required  several  terms  to 
learn  to  read  the  simplest  lessons.  These  children  were 
not  idiots,  in  the  ordinary  use  of  that  word,  though  it 
would  not  be  at  variance  with  what  I  consider  to  be  the 
truth  to  say  that  they  were  idiotic  in  spots  —  on  the  read- 
ing spot,  as  it  were.  I  have  known  of  pupils  who  never 
could  learn  to  read,  though  they  were  normally  able  on 
some  other  lines.  The  late  Supt.  E.  A.  Gastman,  of 
Decatur,  111.,  once  reported  to  me  the  case  of  a  boy  of 
twelve  in  one  of  his  ward  schools,  who,  though  he  was 
neither  deaf  nor  dumb,  yet  never  could  learn  to  read 
aloud ;  though  his  teacher  discovered  one  day,  much  to 
her  surprise,  that  the  lad  could  read  quite  well  to  him- 
self, and  that  he  was  specially  fond  of  reading  history, 
in  which  he  was  much  more  than  usually  proficient  for 
one  of  his  years.  As  this  boy  appeared  among  his 
mates,  there  was  nothing  in  looks  or  actions  to  indicate 
this  particular  shortage ;  that  is,  he  could  talk  well 
enough,  and  would  pass  for  what  is  called  a  normal 
child  to  the  casual  observer.  And  yet  this  is  his 
record. 

Granted  that  this  case  is  exceptional.  Indeed  it  is 
one  of  the  most  peculiar  I  have  ever  had  knowledge  of. 
But  that  does  not  remove  it  from  a  legitimate  place  in 
the  list  I  am  making  up.  Nor  do  I  think  that  this  case 
is  really  as  remarkable  as  it  at  first  seemed  to  me,  and 


6  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

may  seem  to  the  reader  to  be.  Doubtless  there  are 
a  great  many  primary  teachers  in  this  country  who 
could  cite  cases  from  their  own  experiences  with  pupils 
under  their  care  that  would  equal  or  surpass  this  one  in 
strangeness. 

I  once  had  a  pupil  who  could  not  learn  the  multipli- 
cation tables,  though  he  was  remarkably  able  in  some 
other  studies.  When  he  grew  to  manhood  he  became 
an  inventor  and  business  promoter,  in  which  capacity  he 
amassed  a  fortune.  But  he  never  learned  the  multipli- 
cation tables.  I  met  him  when  he  was  a  man  of  wealth, 
at  the  head  of  a  large  manufacturing  establishment,  and 
asked  him  if  he  had  learned  the  multiplication  tables 
yet,  and  he  replied :  "  No !  Why  should  I  learn  the 
multiplication  tables }  I  can  hire  girls  at  six  dollars  a 
week  who  can  do  that  work  for  me !  Life  is  too  short 
for  me  to  waste  it  in  trying  to  master  what  I  have  no 
head  for !  "     His  remark  is  worth  serious  consideration. 

This  case  is  also  rare,  but  there  are  multitudes  of 
teachers  in  the  grades  who  could  duplicate  it  out  of 
their  own  record  books.  There  is  a  story,  which  those 
who  surely  ought  to  know  declare  to  be  well  founded, 
that  no  less  a  personage  than  Dean  Stanley  had  this 
particular  shortage,  and  that,  in  the  prime  of  his  life, 
he  once  said,  in  the  presence  of  a  gentleman  with  whom 
he  was  doing  business  :  "  seven  times  three  are  twenty- 
three,"  and  that  he  knew  no  better  till  his  friend  cor- 
rected him ! 

But  I  must  not  continue  the  list  in  just  this  line. 
Time  and  space  would  fail  me  to  tell  of  the  pupils  I 
have  had  who  were  "  short "  in  spelling  !  (Please  don't 
all  exclaim  at  once  !)  In  lack  of  ability  to  memorize  dates 
I  have  had  many  cases.     I  myself  could  never  learn 


"BORN  SHORT"  7 

to  draw  a  map,  or  anything  else  but  my  salary.  And 
yet  I  strove  hard,  with  all  my  might  and  main  indeed, 
to  do  such  work.  I  was  equally  a  failure  in  my 
attempts  to  master  Latin  and  Greek,  though  I  virtually 
sweat  blood  in  trying  to  obtain  a  knowledge  of  these 
languages.  I  used  to  sit  up  till  late  at  night  to  dig  out 
my  translations,  and  was  up  and  at  work  again  in  the 
very  early  morning.  But  it  was  a  rare  thing  for  me  to 
make  a  recitation  on  which  I  could  get  a  record  of  7  on 
a  scale  of  marking  in  which  10  meant  correct.  The 
men  and  women  are  yet  living  who  could  testify  to  the 
truth  of  these  statements.  I  record  them  now  at  this 
time  of  my  life,  not  with  shame  or  any  feeling  of  dis- 
grace, though  in  school  I  was  more  than  once  put  to  a 
mental  torture  that  was  akin  to  crucifixion  because  of 
my  "shortage"  on  these  counts!  And  I  think  these 
terrible  experiences  of  my  schoolboy  days  are  not  nearly 
as  exceptional  among  the  pupils  of  to-day  as  they  ought 
to  be. 

If  the  reader  is  a  teacher,  please  pause  and  think  a 
moment  just  here ! 

Any  teacher  of  experience  can  extend  this  list  of 
"short"  pupils  ad  infinitum.  I  turn,  then,  from  this 
part  of  the  record  of  children  to  that  of  grown-ups. 

Perhaps  I  ought  to  explain  that  these  adult  cases  are 
given  for  the  sake  of  showing  the  persistence  of  "  born 
so"  lacks  or  excesses.  It  is  this  fact  that  makes  them 
germane  to  my  chief  contention,  of  vital  interest  in  the 
issue  in  hand. 

I  once  knew  a  school  teacher,  a  good  one,  too,  she  was, 
who  could  not  tell  the  time  of  day  on  a  watch  or  clock.  I 
mentioned  this  fact  once,  at  a  public  educational  meeting, 
and  at  its  close  a  judge  of  the  court  in  that  district,  who 


8  ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

happened  to  be  present  and  so  heard  my  remarks,  came 
to  me  and  said  :  "  Mr.  Smith,  I  did  not  suppose  that  any 
other  human  being  in  all  this  world  ever  was  afflicted  as 
I  have  always  been.  But  the  case  of  the  teacher  who 
could  not  tell  time  is  exactly  like  my  own.  I  have  never 
been  able  to  tell  the  time  of  day  on  a  watch  or  clock. 
I  carry  a  watch  because  that  is  counted  the  proper  thing 
for  a  judge  to  do ;  but  if  I  want  to  know,  for  certain, 
what  time  it  is,  I  ask  some  one  who  knows !  "  I  after- 
wards inquired  of  lawyers  who  practiced  before  this 
judge's  court,  and  was  told  that  he  always  asked  some 
one  what  time  it  was  before  he  adjourned  court.  They 
said  he  would  squint  at  the  clock,  as  if  he  could  not  see 
its  face  clearly,  and  would  then  inquire  what  time  it  was 
and  wait  till  some  one  told  him !  None  of  the  lawyers 
knew  positively  that  the  judge  could  not  "tell  time,"  he 
concealed  his  defect  so  cleverly,  but  one  of  them  said  to 
me :  "  It  always  seemed  curious  to  us  that  he  could  see 
our  faces,  anyhow  well  enough  to  tell  us  apart,  and 
could  not  see  the  face  of  the  clock." 

I  know  a  primary  teacher,  of  national  reputation,  who 
cannot  tell  her  right  hand  from  her  left  except  by  a 
special  mental  effort  and  the  use  of  a  particular  method 
she  has  for  determining  which  hand  is  which.  I  also 
know  a  leading  college  president,  who  is  at  the  head  of 
one  of  the  best  institutions  of  its  class  in  this  country, 
who  is  "  short "  in  the  same  way. 

I  know  a  State  Commissioner  of  Education,  who  is 
among  the  foremost  of  educational  leaders  in  the  United 
States,  who  never  writes  a  letter  with  his  own  hand. 
He  cannot  spell  —  has  never  been  able  to  learn  to  do  so. 

A  leading  bishop  of  one  of  the  strongest  denomina- 
tions in  this  country  once  said  to  me :  "  It  would  be  a 


"BORN  SHORT"  9 

notable  day  when  I  would  not  spell  which  in  at  least 
three  different  ways  in  writing  a  single  page," 

In  her  autobiography  Julia  Ward  Howe  states  that 
Charles  Sumner  had  so  little  mathematical  ability  that 
Professor  Pierce,  of  Harvard  College,  once  said  to  him : 
"  Charles,  I  never  expect  to  get  the  simplest  mathemati- 
cal proposition  whittled  down  to  so  fine  a  point  that 
even  the  tip  of  it  could  enter  yoiir  mind." 

The  late  N.  S.  Shaler,  in  his  autobiography,  said,  in 
speaking  of  the  examination  that  Professor  Agassiz  gave 
him,  when  he  became  the  pupil  of  that  noted  scientist : 
"  He  did  not  probe  me  in  my  weakest  place,  mathe- 
matics, for  the  good  reason  that,  badly  off  as  I  was  on 
that  subject,  he  was  in  a  worse  plight." 

I  know  an  actress  of  such  wonderful  tragic  ability 
that  she  can  thrill  an  audience  to  the  point  of  frenzy 
(the  real  thing),  and  yet  she  could  not  "make  change 
for  a  dollar  "  to  save  her  life. 

Every  reader  of  General  Grant's  Memoirs  will  recall 
the  story  he  tells  of  his  financial  "shortage"  as  shown 
in  buying  a  colt  when  he  was  a  boy ;  and  the  story 
of  the  Grant- Ward  failure  shows  how  his  youthful  trait 
remained  with  him  to  the  close  of  his  life. 

Similar  cases,  showing  the  general  distribution  of 
"shortage"  among  men  and  women  whose  names  are 
honored  throughout  the  world  could  easily  be  given,  but 
these  are  enough  to  establish  all  I  am  contending  for 
here.  All  these  and  multitudes  besides  have  demon- 
strated that  they  had  a  lack  of  ability  to  function  in 
certain  spheres  of  the  mental  plane  —  that  they  were 
"  short "  on  some  counts.  It  is  equally  true  that  these 
"  shortages  "  manifested  themselves  in  the  early  life  of 
the  individuals  concerned,  that  they  were  "  born  short " 


lO  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

in  each  and  every  case,  and  that  such  "  shortage  "  cut  a 
considerable  figure  in  their  lives  and  acts,  both  in  their 
youth  and  in  their  adult  life.  This  point  is  so  clear  that 
I  can  rest  the  further  presentation  of  the  testimony 
that  upholds  it  right  here.  The  facts  I  have  stated  are 
undeniable,  and  they  all  mean  something.  I  shall  refer 
to  them  again  and  again  when  I  come  to  argue  the  case 
in  full. 


CHAPTER   II 

"BORN   LONG" 

Partial  List  of  "Longs"  —  Mathematical  Boy  of  Six  —  Primary 
Pupils  who  could  "  always "  read  or  draw  —  Case  of  Robert 
Gardenhire  —  "  Absolute  Pitch  "  possessed  by  Boy  of  Ten  — 
Idiot  Girl  a  Crochet  Genius — Juvenile  Prodigies  —  The  "Pro- 
nounced "  vs.  the  "  Exceptional "  —  General  Distribution  of  the 
Phenomena  of  "  Longage  "  in  Some  Form  —  Found  among  All 
Classes  of  People  —  Author's  Ability  to  memorize  Prose  and 
Poetry — Similar  Cases  noted  —  Examples  from  Other  Walks  of 
Life  —  The  Little  Engine  —  The  Gardener  —  The  Cook  —  The 
Significance  of  these  Facts. 

Turning  now  to  the  other  side  of  the  shield,  I  give 
herewith  a  limited  list  of  people  I  have  known  who 
were  "long,"  or  here  or  there,  who  had  an  excess  of 
ability  to  function  in  certain  spheres  of  the  mental 
plane.  Here,  also,  my  observations  began  when  I  was 
quite  young ;  and  while  I  did  not  philosophize  upon  the 
data  at  that  time  of  my  life,  yet  they  made  a  marked 
impression  upon  me  as  peculiar  mental  phenomena, 
which  has  continued  even  to  this  day. 

I  remember  a  boy  of  six  who  was  always  "  making  up 
problems  "  which  he  delighted  to  spring  upon  his  elders. 
One,  I  remember,  was  as  follows :  If  a  quarter  of  a 
dollar  is  fifteen  sixteenths  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  and 
it  is  25,000  miles  around  the  earth,  how  many  quarters 
laid  side  by  side  would  it  take  to  reach  around  the 
world .''  He  would  make  up  and  solve  "  mentally "  the 
most  intricate  problems  in  interest,  and  when  asked 
how  he  got  the  results,  he  would  reply,    "At   first   I 


12  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

thought  it  was  so  much ;  but  when  I  thought  about  it  I 
knew  it  was  so  much."  This  was  all  he  could  tell 
of  how  he  obtained  his  results,  which  were  always 
correct. 

Surely  a  six-year-old  boy  who  could  make  up  and 
mentally  solve  problems  Uke  this  might  be  counted  as 
having  an  excess  of  ability  to  function  in  the  mathe- 
matical plane.  He  had  never  been  to  school  when  he 
did  this  work,  and  had  had  no  instruction  in  arithmetic 
to  amount  to  anything. 

As  a  teacher,  I  had  pupils  who  could  not  remember 
when  they  learned  to  read,  they  acquired  the  art  so 
early  in  life.  All  primary  teachers  are  familiar  with 
similar  cases.  I  have  had  pupils  in  the  lower  grades 
who,  unaided,  could  draw  pictures  in  correct  perspec- 
tive, and  who  "had  always  done  so."  I  have  also 
known  grade  pupils  who  were  walking  cyclopedias  of 
dates  and  events,  but  who  did  not  have  to  make  any 
special  effort  to  acquire  such  proficiency. 

But  I  need  not  multiply  instances  of  this  sort  in  these 
strata  of  human  life.  All  teachers  of  experience  are 
familiar  with  them,  and  most  parents  know  something 
of  them.  So,  leaving  these,  I  turn  to  similar  phe- 
nomena in  older  people. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  cases  of  this  sort  that  I 
have  ever  had  personal  knowledge  of  is  that  of  Robert 
Gardenhire,  a  full-blooded  negro,  of  Augusta,  Ga.  I 
became  acquainted  with  this  case  through  a  classmate 
of  mine,  a  former  teacher,  and  so  one  well  able  to  judge 
in  the  premises,  and  with  his  assistance  I  was  enabled 
to  make  a  thorough  examination  of  the  young  man  and 
to  verify  the  remarkable  phenomena  his  mental  func- 
tioning exhibited. 


"BORN  LONG"  13 

At  the  time  of  our  examination,  this  man  was  about 
twenty  years  old.  He  had  been  to  school  less  than  a 
year,  all  told.  He  could  read  and  write  a  little,  but  was 
"wholly  uneducated,"  in  the  ordinary  meaning  of  those 
words.  He  was  working  in  an  oil  mill,  shoveling  cotton 
seed  at  seventy-five  cents  a  day,  and  that  appeared  to 
be  as  much  as  he  could  earn  at  such  work — seemed 
about  his  Hmit  of  value  in  that  direction.  In  a  word, 
he  was  a  very  ordinary  negro,  so  far  as  his  general 
ability  was  concerned. 

When  he  was  about  seventeen  years  old  people  dis- 
covered that  he  was  "bright  in  figures,"  and  began  to 
ask  him  questions.  The  result  was  that  he  soon  ac- 
quired local  fame,  and  almost  every  one  he  met  would 
test  his  ability,  till  in  a  short  time  he  became  wonderfully 
expert  in  solving  certain  kinds  of  mathematical  prob- 
lems. He  was  especially  strong  in  multiplication. 
Give  him  two  factors  to  be  taken  together,  and  he  would 
promptly  give  you  the  correct  result.  If  the  factors 
were  only  "  two-placed  "  numbers,  each,  he  would  an- 
nounce the  product  instantly.  If  they  were  "three- 
placed  "  numbers,  he  would  hesitate  just  a  little  before 
replying.  The  work  was  all  done  "mentally,"  that  is, 
he  never  wrote  the  figures  down.  He  could  work  a  little 
with  written  numbers,  but  in  such  work  he  was  very 
slow.  This  way  of  working  was  very  distasteful  to  him. 
He  hated  it. 

To  this  unlettered  negro  my  friend  dictated  thirty- 
three  problems  in  multiplication.  The  gentleman  him- 
self wrote  the  factors  upon  a  sheet  of  paper,  as  he 
announced  them,  and  then  immediately  set  down,  after 
each  set,  seriatim,  the  answers,  as  the  young  man  gave 
them  to  him.     In  no  case  was  there  a  delay  of  more 


49  X 

349  =  17101 

169  X 

337  =  38553"^ 

17  X 

15=   255 

19  X 

19  =   361 

96x 

78=  7488 

42  x 

37=  1554 

37  X 

91  =  3367 

67  X 

77=  5159 

57  X 

791  =  45087 

71  X 

851  =  60421 

69X 

546  =  37674 

99X 

999  ==  97801+ 

4X 

1870  =  7480 

17  X 

110=  1870 

15  X 

12  =   180 

72  X 

110=  7920 

14  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

than  a  second  or  two  in  giving  these  answers.     The  list 
of  problems  thus  given  and  solved  is  as  follows  :  — 

27  X  35  =  945 
91  X  86  =  7826 
57  X  81  =  4617 
97  X  197  =  19109 
76  X  751  =  57076 
71  X    91  =   6461 

71  X  87  =  6177 
67  X  88  =  5896 
76  X    78  =    5928 

96  X  17  =  1632 
27  X  187  =  5049 

97  X  998  =  96806 
78  X    87  =  7836+ 
87  X    97=  8439 

72  X  loi  —  7272 
32  X  13  =  416 
24  X    72  =  1728 

I  have  verified  these  problems,  and  find  there  are 
three  mistakes  in  the  answers.  (  You  would  smile  should 
I  tell  how  many  mistakes  I  made  in  my  calculations,  in 
doing  this  proof  work !  Suppose  you  try  it  yourself, 
and  see  how  you  come  out ! ) 

And  this  case,  wonderful  as  it  is,  is  only  one  of  many. 
The  similar  case  of  Zerah  Colbum  has  been  well  known 
to  psychologists  and  professors  of  pedagogy  for  many 
years,  and  "lightning  calculators"  are  as  thick  as  side 
shows,  the  country  over. 

Nor  are  such  cases  confined  to  mathematics  alone. 
They  crop  out  in  nearly  every  other  line  of  life  that  is 
known  to  humanity. 

Again,  I  know  a  blind  boy  who  has  the  gift  of  "  abso- 
lute pitch  "  in  music.  Strike  any  key  on  the  piano  and 
he  will  name  the  tone  produced.     Strike  as  many  as  you 


"BORN  LONG"  1 5 

will,  even  if  that  means  every  key  on  the  board,  and  all 
at  once,  and  he  will  name  for  you  every  key  you  have  hit. 
Professor  Frank  Hall,  of  Aurora,  111.,  brought  this  case 
to  my  notice. 

I  once  met  a  girl  of  twelve  who  had  such  a  poor  sense 
of  number  that  she  could  not  count  at  all,  and  yet  she  was 
so  skillful  with  a  crochet  hook  that  she  could  duplicate 
any  pattern  of  crochet  work  that  might  be  given  her. 
She  would  even  take  a  printed  pattern  of  a  piece  of  lace, 
as  it  appears  in  a  needlework  book  or  magazine,  and 
produce  the  work  perfectly  with  her  hook  and  thread, 
though  wholly  unable  to  count  a  stitch,  or  to  read  a  word 
of  the  printed  directions.  She  also  made  original  pat- 
terns which  were  of  rare  beauty. 

I  have  a  record  of  a  boy  who  was  ready  to  enter  college 
at  nine  years  of  age.  He  read  Latin  well  at  five,  and  a 
little  later  mastered  French  and  German.  He  took  de- 
light in  differential  calculus  at  eight,  and  was  very  fond 
of  chemistry.  The  remarkable  record  made  by  William 
James  Sidis  is  a  similar  case  that  all  the  world  has 
recently  been  made  familiar  with. 

I  have  a  young  lady  friend  who  was  born  blind. 
When  she  was  about  three  years  old,  a  skillful  doctor 
removed  the  cause  of  her  blindness,  and  she  could  see. 
As  soon  as  she  could  use  her  eyes  she  began  to  read. 
She  never  had  to  be  taught  how  to  read,  but  read  al- 
most everything  fluently  from  the  first.  Before  she 
was  five,  I  put  a  copy  of  "  Sartor  Resartus  "  into  her 
hands  one  evening,  just  to  see  what  she  could  do,  and 
she  read  page  after  page  without  a  halt. 

But  I  need  not  multiply  cases  of  this  class.  Time 
and  space  would  fail  me  to  tell  of  Mozart,  and  Millais, 
and  Blind  Tom,  and  Lope  de  Vega,  and  Tasso,  and 


1 6  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

Webster,  and  hundreds  of  others,  whose  names  and 
records  are  well  known,  and  all  of  whom  were  notably 
"long"  in  some  lines  —  were  "born  so,"  and  were  so  as 
long  as  they  lived. 

All  these  people  and  their  similars  are  "  long "  in 
their  ability  to  function  in  certain  spheres  of  the  mental 
plane. 

But,  some  one  says,  these  cases  are  nearly  all  excep- 
tional; they  are  taken  from  the  unusual  walks  of  life; 
and  hence  their  experience  and  records  are  not  a  fair 
measure  to  use  on  the  rank  and  file.  To  which  I  reply 
these  cases  are  phenomenal  rather  than  exceptional. 
And  I  am  impressed  with  the  fact  that  there  is  no  need 
of  making  even  such  a  concession.  For,  when  I  note 
my  own  ability  to  function  on  some  mental  planes,  I  find 
myself  as  pronounced  and  exceptional  as  the  rest,  and 
the  same  is  doubtless  true  in  your  own  case,  whoever 
you  are.  And  when  I  look  about  amongst  my  neigh- 
bors, right  here  at  home,  I  find  that  every  one  of  them, 
even  the  humblest,  is  about  as  pronounced  and  excep- 
tional as  you,  or  I,  or  any  one. 

Thus,  not  to  draw  aside  the  veil  of  my  own  personality 
too  far,  and  surely  not  to  boast,  I  have  always  been 
"long"  in  the  matter  of  remembering  certain  pieces  of 
literature  so  that  I  could  quote  them.  This  memorizing 
at  pleasure  has  never  cost  me  any  effort,  nor  does  it 
do  so  to  this  day,  provided  the  selection  takes  my 
fancy  —  strikes  me  right.  If  it  does  that,  I  can  master 
it  without  trying  to  do  so  at  all.  I  can  repeat,  as  I 
would  my  alphabet,  the  nursery  rhymes  learned  in  my 
infancy ;  and  it  is  only  a  few  days  since  I  memorized  a 
poem  of  sixty-four  lines  by  hearing  a  public  reader  recite 
it  a  single  time  before  an  audience.     Pieces  memor- 


"BORN  LONG"  1 7 

ized  in  that  way  I  retain  well,  without  any  particular 
effort.  It  all  depends  on  "how  they  strike  me."  If 
they  "hit  me  hard,"  they  stay  with  me.  More  than 
twenty-five  years  ago  I  heard  Henry  Ward  Beecher 
deliver  a  lecture  that  greatly  pleased  me,  and  I  could 
write  several  columns  of  it  to-day,  though  I  have  never 
tried  to  memorize  a  word  of  it.  This  is  a  power  that 
I  have  always  had,  from  my  earliest  recollection,  this 
ability  to  memorize  certain  things  without  effort.  I 
was  "born  so,"  and  that  is  the  way  I  am  to  this 
day. 

And  again  some  one  says  "  exceptional." 

Well,  two  doors  south  of  where  I  am  writing,  I  had, 
for  years,  a  neighbor  who  could  discount  me  in  this  sort 
of  "exception."  He  is  a  dry  goods  merchant,  and  a 
successful  one  too.  I  remember  his  coming  over  to  my 
study  one  evening  and  quoting  the  whole  of  the  "  New 
Locksley  Hall,"  when  that  poem  first  came  out,  after  a 
single  reading,  and  I  am  sure  he  could  quote  it  to-day, 
with  equal  ease  and  accuracy. 

Two  doors  north  of  where  I  am  writing  lives  a  woman 
who  can  quote  seven  of  Shakespeare's  plays,  verbatim  et 
literatim,  and  she  never  spent  an  hour  in  trying  to  mem- 
orize them.  She  will  also  repeat  Browning  by  the  thou- 
sands of  lines,  and  is  equally  able  to  recite  Walt  Whitman, 
page  after  page.  She  is  the  wife  of  a  bookkeeper  and 
was  for  years  a  commercial  stenographer. 

And  again  some  one  says  "  exceptional,"  and  adds : 
"Take  some  instances  from  the  commoner  walks  of 
life."  Well,  dry  goods  merchants  and  commercial 
stenographers  are  not  regularly  counted  as  among  the 
intellectual  "  Four  Hundred,"  but  my  experience  is  that 
this  trait  of  excess  of  ability  to  function  in  some  mental 


l8  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE   PEOPLE 

plane  extends  through  all  the  social  strata  and  covers  all 
sorts  of  mental  ground.  Thus,  a  street  car  conductor 
on  the  line  that  runs  in  front  of  my  door  has  just  com- 
pleted a  steam  engine  that  is  so  small  that  it  can  be 
entirely  covered  with  a  lady's  thimble.  He  has  built  it 
at  odd  times,  and  "just  for  fun."  He  is  not  a  pro- 
fessional mechanic. 

The  man  who  takes  care  of  my  "  home  place  "  is  of 
Irish  extraction,  born  and  reared  on  the  "  East  Side  " 
in  New  York  City.  Until  he  was  sixteen,  all  the  green 
and  growing  things  he  had  ever  seen  or  knew  about 
were  such  as  he  saw  in  the  City  Hall  Park.  Yet  I  never 
met  his  equal  as  a  gardener.  He  will  coax  the  finest  of 
vegetables,  such  as  would  baffle  my  very  best  efforts  to 
produce,  out  of  a  soil  and  environment  that  I  could  get 
little  or  nothing  out  of.  And  yet  I  grew  up  on  a  farm, 
and  was  taught  to  do  these  things,  while  this  man  was 
reared  on  cobblestone  pavements,  in  the  region  of  Five 
Points.  He  and  a  weed  cannot  exist  on  the  same  acre, 
and  he  would  sit  up  nights  to  nurse  a  drooping  plant  to 
vigor  again.  I  would  not,  and  the  chances  are  that  the 
plant  would  die  if  I  did. 

For  years  we  had  in  our  kitchen  (I'm  surely  within 
the  range  of  the  common  walks  of  life  now)  a  woman 
who  was  "  long  "  on  cooking.  She  had  had  no  particular 
training  in  the  art,  but  she  "  loved  to  cook."  This  she 
could  do  to  perfection,  practically  without  any  special 
effort  or  application,  but  because  it  was  the  joy  of  her 
life.  She  used  to  say  it  "just  came  natural"  to  her.  I 
am  sure  it  did. 

But  I  need  not  make  this  list  longer.  The  truth  is,  I 
have  rarely  met  a  man,  woman,  or  child  who  was  not 
"long"  somewhere.     And  if  you,  dear  reader,  will  look 


"BORN  LONG"  19 

within  and  about  yourself,  you  will  find  that  your  expe- 
rience and  mine  are  very  much  alike.  The  cases  you 
have  seen  and  know  about  are  not  identical  with  those 
I  have  noted,  but  they  exhibit  the  same  principle.  And 
that  is  enough. 


CHAPTER    III 

SOME  COMPARISONS  AND  CONCLUSIONS 

Common  Opinions  regarding  **  Shorts "  and  "Longs'"  —  How 
"  Shorts  "  regard  "  Longs  "  and  "  Longs  "  regard  "  Shorts  "  — 
Why  both  are  wrong  —  Sumner  and  Gardenhire  compared  — 
Wendell  Phillips  on  Sumner —  Gardenhire  and  Heredity  —  Zerah 
Colburn  —  Blind  Tom  —  Grant  as  Soldier,  Statesman,  and  Finan- 
cier—  Similar  Cases  —  The  very  "  Long  "  apt  to  be  very  "  Short " 
in  some  Places,  and  vice  versa  —  Applications  drawn  from  these 
Comparisons  —  "  Shorts  "  not  "  Fools  "  —  Why  Names  of  People 
who  are  "  Short "  cannot  be  given  —  Wrong  Opinions  regarding 
"  Longs  "  —  Personal  Applications  of  the  Principle. 

And  now,  having  given  these  lists  of  "  shorts  "  and 
"  longs,"  having  shown  that  there  are  such  phenomena 
as  lack  and  excess  of  ability  to  function  in  certain 
spheres  of  the  mental  plane  in  human  experience,  I  wish 
to  make  a  few  comparisons  in  the  premises  and  to  note 
some  conclusions  that  are  very  apt  to  follow  naturally, 
though  I  think  wrongfully,  in  cases  such  as  I  have 
noted. 

In  the  first  place,  I  wish  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  it 
is  a  very  common  conclusion  that,  if  any  given  person 
is  pronouncedly  "short"  or  "long"  in  some  particular 
line  of  ability  to  function  mentally,  he  or  she  is  also 
equally  short  or  long  in  all  other  ways.  Such  conclu- 
sions are  especially  prominent  with  all  of  us  when  we 
compare  other  people  with  ourselves. 

If  you,  dear  reader,  are  a  good  mathematician,  if 
arithmetic  was  always  the  delight    of  your  life,   and 


SOME  COMPARISONS  AND   CONCLUSIONS  21 

algebra  likewise,  and  you  learn,  in  some  way,  that  a 
neighbor  or  an  acquaintance  of  yours  can  hardly  add  a 
short  column  of  figures  correctly,  the  chances  are  many 
to  one  that  your  opinion  of  that  neighbor  or  acquaint- 
ance will  be  lowered  not  a  little  by  such  discovery.  Or, 
if  you  are  a  good  speller,  naturally  so,  and  you  get  a 
letter  from  some  correspondent  in  which  there  are  mis- 
spelled words,  the  probabilities  are  that  you  will  set  the 
writer  down  as  an  "  ignorant  person,"  to  say  the  least. 
But  if  you  are  "  short "  on  mathematics  and  come  across 
some  one  else  who  cannot  add,  you  do  not  look  down  on 
such  a  one.  You  sympathize  with  him  —  you  know  just 
how  it  is  yourself.  The  same  is  true  if  you  are  a  poor 
speller.     You  are  "  drawn  to  "  any  one  in  like  case. 

Again,  if  you  have  no  "  knack  "  in  some  line  of  work, 
if  you  are  "  short "  in  some  particular  way,  and  you  come 
across  some  one  who  is  "handy"  or  "long"  just  there, 
the  probabilities  are  that  you  will  be  filled  with  wonder 
and  amazement  that  such  person  can  do  what  he  does 
so  easily,  and  you  will  be  very  apt  to  leap  to  the  con- 
clusion that  he  can  do  everything  else  just  as  readily ! 
Before  you  read  further,  please  stop,  just  an  instant, 
and  think  out  how  these  things  are  in  your  own  particu- 
lar case.  Such  brief  introspection  will  help  you  to 
comprehend  better  all  that  I  say  hereafter. 

What  I  wish  to  urge  is,  that  all  such  conclusions,  and 
such  feelings  of  disgust  or  amazement,  are  wrong,  though 
they  are  as  natural  as  that  water  should  run  downhill. 
The  sympathetic  feelings  of  like  for  like  are  all  right,  but 
not  the  others. 

To  make  this  point  clear,  I  am  going  to  make  a  few 
comparisons  from  some  of  the  cases  I  have  noted. 

To  make  one  of  the  most  startling  comparisons  first, 


22  ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

put  the  cases  of  Charles  Sumner  and  Robert  Gardenhire 
side  by  side.  Sumner  had  no  mathematical  ability  that 
was  worthy  the  name.  Gardenhire  could  solve,  "  men- 
tally" and  instantly,  problems  that  it  would  have  taken 
Sumner  hours  to  "  figure  out,"  with  the  chances  that  even 
then  they  would  be  wrong.  Judged  mathematically,  and 
by  that  ability  alone,  the  colored  man  would  be  ranked 
as  far  the  mental  superior  of  the  statesman.     And  yet ! 

The  point  I  wish  to  make  is  that  it  would  be  unfair  to 
either  party  to  judge  him  wholly  by  his  lack  or  excess, 
by  his  "short"  or  "long"  ability.  Sumner  was  little 
more  than  imbecile,  mathematically;  but  I  remember 
hearing  Wendell  Phillips,  in  his  lecture  on  Charles  Sum- 
ner, tell  how,  just  after  he  had  graduated  from  Harvard, 
he  made  a  trip  to  London ;  and  though  at  that  time  he 
was  only  "  a  briefless  lawyer,"  yet  his  fame  as  one  skilled 
in  the  knowledge  of  the  law  had  so  preceded  him  that  the 
Supreme  Judges  in  England  invited  him  to  sit  with  them 
as  they  heard  cases  in  court.  And  when  a  very  unusual 
case  came  before  these  judges,  one  of  them  turned  to 
Sumner  and  asked  him  if  he  knew  any  similar  case  in 
point.  To  whom  young  Sumner  replied :  "  Your  honor, 
in  such  a  volume  of  your  own  reports,  on  such  a  page, 
you  will  find  a  like  case !  "  Think  of  this  reply,  and  then 
compare  it  with  what  Professor  Pierce  said  to  Sumner 
about  his  mathematical  inability ! 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  will  be  difficult  for  the  reader 
to  believe  this  story  which  Phillips  tells  of  Sumner.  It 
is  so  far  beyond  the  experience  of  the  most  of  us  that 
we  can  hardly  realize  that  it  can  be  true.  But  I  have 
no  doubt  of  its  truth.  On  his  "long"  side  Charles 
Sumner  was  a  most  remarkable  man.  On  his  "  short " 
side  we  like  to  draw  the  veil.     So  do  we  all  like  to  hide 


SOME  COMPARISONS  AND   CONCLUSIONS  23 

our  own  "short"  places!  What  we  ought  to  do  is  to 
be  fair  in  both  and  in  all  cases. 

In  the  case  of  Robert  Gardenhire,  I  have  already 
said  that  he  was  a  person  of  very  ordinary  ability,  out- 
side his  special  characteristic  of  unusual  mathematical 
strength.  Here  is  his  signature,  and  it  shows  that  he 
can  barely  write  his  name.     As  a  day  laborer,  in  the 

simplest  sort  of  work,  he  could  be  only  moderately  suc- 
cessful. Yet  is  it  not  true  that  "  one  would  naturally 
expect  great  things  "  of  one  who  was  so  "  mathematically 
bright "  .-*     Most  assuredly  this  is  so. 

(There  is  another  point,  in  this  particular  case,  which, 
while  not  germane  just  here,  I  cannot  refrain  from  men- 
tioning as  of  interest  from  an  evolutionary  standpoint, 
and  that  is,  that  this  young  man  is  a  full-blooded  negro; 
at  least,  he  shows  not  a  trace  of  white  blood  in  his  phys- 
ical appearance.  The  puzzling  question  is,  from  what 
ancestry  did  his  "  longage  "  come  .''  This  is  something 
to  ponder  over !) 

So  much  was  expected  from  Zerah  Colburn  that  he 
was  sent  across  the  water  to  appear  before  the  savants 
of  Europe,  in  the  hope  that  he  might  reveal  something 
entirely  new  in  mathematical  methods.  But  in  this  he 
entirely  failed.  He  could  give  no  account  of  how  he 
obtained  his  results,  and  he  was  of  very  limited  ability, 
outside  his  specialty. 

The  little  girl  I  have  mentioned,  who  could  work  such 
marvels  with  her  crochet  hook,  was  in  an  idiot  asylum, 
though  on  the  line  on  which  she  was  "  long  "  she  could 
do  what  not  one  woman  in  a  million  could  ever  learn  to 
do.     She  could  not  read,  and  she  could  not  count.     And 


24  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

yet  she  could  crochet  an  intricate  lace  pattern  from  a 
picture  of  the  piece.  I  never  saw  any  other  human 
being  who  could  do  this  without  "  reading  the  direc- 
tions "  and  "  counting  the  stitches,"  as  the  work  was 
done.  But  this  girl  could  make  the  lace  without  read- 
ing or  counting,  though  she  had  never  been  taught  how. 
She  was  "  born  long  "  on  that  side.  That  was  the  way 
she  was. 

And  everybody  knows  that  Blind  Tom  was  entirely 
limited  in  his  mentality,  outside  of  his  musical  accom- 
plishments. Where  he  was  "  born  long  "  he  never  had 
an  equal.  As  a  child,  he  showed  signs  of  his  rare 
ability.  It  was  the  way  he  was.  But  it  was  useless 
to  try  to  get  much  of  anything  else  into  him  or  out  of 
him,  to  develop  him,  to  any  extent,  in  any  other  direc- 
tion than  in  music.  Here,  he  grew  and  grew.  Here, 
but  not  elsewhere. 

Did  you  ever  stop  to  think  of  the  significance  of  the 
final  chapter  in  the  life  of  General  Ulysses  S.  Grant? 
There  is  no  question  but  that,  as  a  soldier,  he  was  one 
of  the  greatest  this  world  has  ever  seen.  There  is  no 
need  of  eulogizing  him  on  that  score.  But  outside  of 
his  military  attainments,  he  was  a  man  of  very  ordinary 
ability.  As  a  farmer  he  was  a  failure,  as  a  statesman 
he  was  mediocre,  and  as  a  financier  he  stood  at  the 
bottom  of  the  ladder.  There  is  no  more  pathetic  story 
in  all  history  than  the  record  of  the  Grant-Ward  failure. 
But  it  is  pity  and  not  blame  that  one  feels  towards  the 
great  general  as  the  details  of  that  tragedy  become 
known.  It  is  easy  to  see  now  that  he  was  a  mere  child 
in  the  hands  of  an  unscrupulous  promoter.  If  he  had 
possessed  even  ordinary  financial  insight,  he  would  have 
known,  from  the  start,  that  nothing  but  ruin  could  result 


SOME  COMPARISONS  AND   CONCLUSIONS  25 

from  the  course  the  firm  he  was  a  member  of  pursued. 
But,  on  that  side,  he  was  so  short  that  he  could  not  see 
that  King  Lear  was  right  when  he  said,  "  Nothing  can 
come  from  nothing."  He  was  a  great  general.  He  was 
weakness  itself  as  a  financier. 

Or,  take  some  others  of  the  particular  cases  that  I 
have  reported.  The  woman  who  could  not  tell  time 
was  a  most  successful  teacher;  and  the  judge  who  was 
likewise  short  was  remarkably  able  in  his  profession. 
He  was  one  of  the  best  Greek  scholars  I  ever  knew, 
and  as  a  logician  he  was  invincible.  His  decisions  while 
upon  the  bench  were  almost  never  reversed,  so  perfect 
was  his  grasp  of  every  point  in  any  case  he  was  called 
to  pass  upon. 

But  now,  truly,  if  you  were  a  school  director,  and  a 
teacher  should  make  application  to  you  for  a  position, 
and  you  should  happen  to  find  out  that  she  could  not 
tell  time,  would  not  that  fact  tend  to  make  you  reject 
her  application ;  would  it  not  almost  force  you  to  con- 
clude that  she  could  not  possibly  be  a  good  teacher } 
Or,  if  you  had  a  case  in  court,  would  you  not  hesitate 
to  have  it  come  before  a  judge  who  had  to  ask  some 
one  else  when  it  was  time  to  adjourn  ?  You  would  be 
far  above  the  average  of  humanity  if  you  did  not  brand 
both  these  people  as  "  fools." 

Yet  this  teacher  was  not  a  fool,  nor  was  the  judge  a 
fool,  nor  was  Charles  Sumner,  nor  was  General  Grant, 
nor  was  Louis  Agassiz,  or  any  of  the  rest.  They  were 
simply  "  short "  where  others  are  "  long,"  and  it  would 
be  entirely  unfair  and  unjust  to  them  to  judge  them 
from  their  "  short "  sides. 

The  fact  is,  we  are  all  both  "born  long  "and  "born 
short "  on  some  lines. 


26  ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

And  beyond  doubt  this  also  is  true,  that,  where  one 
is  born  very  "  long  "  on  some  one  line,  such  a  person  is 
quite  apt  to  be  very  "short"  on  some  other  line,  and 
vice  versa.  This  is  true  of  all  the  cases  I  have  just  been 
considering  in  detail.  But  it  is  equally  true  that  the 
great  bulk  of  humanity  have,  each  and  all,  their  "long" 
places  and  their  "  short "  places,  their  natural  bents  of 
mind. 

To  emphasize  what  I  have  just  said,  I  cannot  help 
noting  some  further  details  of  the  cases  mentioned.  I 
want  to  make  it  very  plain  that  people  who  are  very 
"short"  in  some  regards  are  by  no  means  weak  in 
others;  and  also  to  prove  that  they  have  a  right  in 
the  procession,  often  in  the  front  rank. 

I  wish  I  could  give  you  the  name  of  the  teacher  who 
cannot  tell  her  right  hand  from  her  left  without  special 
mental  effort.  She  is  a  woman  who  has  made  a  na- 
tional reputation  in  her  primary  work,  and  in  that  line 
she  has  no  superior,  anywhere.  And  so  of  the  college 
president  who  has  a  touch  of  the  same  shortage. 
Should  I  write  his  name  here,  you  would  recognize  it 
at  once  as  that  of  a  man  who  has  been  honored  by  the 
teachers  of  this  country  as  only  a  very  few  men  have 
ever  been.  He  worthily  stands  in  the  front  rank 
among  the  educational  leaders  of  America.  So,  too, 
of  the  LL.D.  who  cannot  spell.  His  name  is  famous 
on  more  than  one  continent. 

Why  is  it,  then,  that  I  must  not  mention  the  names 
of  the  people  spoken  of  in  this  last  paragraph .?  The 
answer  is  easy.  They  are  all  living,  and  if  their  names 
were  told  it  would  greatly  lower  them  in  the  esteem  of 
many  people  who  know  them.  If  I  were  speaking  of 
where  they  are  "  long,"  I  might  sound  their  names  with 


SOME  COMPARISONS  AND   CONCLUSIONS  27 

a  trumpet,  and  the  chances  are  that  all  who  heard  would 
hasten  to  conclude  that  they  were  "  intellectual  giants," 
every  one,  and  in  every  way.  But  if  I  tell  of  where 
they  are  "  short,"  their  names  must  be  concealed.  I 
shall  return  to  this  fact  later  and  note  its  further  sig- 
nificance. Meantime,  let  the  reader  note  it  well,  and  be 
cautious  as  to  the  conclusions  he  forms  from  the  com- 
parisons he  makes  when  considering  the  "shortages" 
and  "  longages  "  in  his  fellow  men  —  and  in  himself ! 


CHAPTER    IV 

NASCITUR   NON   FIT 

The  Maxim  too  Narrow  —  The  Universality  of  Congenital  Gifts  and 
Deprivations  —  The  Way  we  are  —  Genius  vs.  Hard  Work  — 
"Winners"  must  have  Native  Ability  —  The  Real  Basis  of  Suc- 
cess in  any  Given  Calling  —  Cases  in  Point  —  Locomotive  Fire- 
men—  Merchants  —  Square  Pegs  and  Round  Holes  —  Training 
vs.  Creation — Real  Estate  and  Grammar — Virtue  and  Persever- 
ance—  Lincoln's  Advice  to  a  Young  Man  —  Endeavor  without 
Comprehension —  Practical  Application  of  the  Principle —  Omnes 
Nascuntur,  nonfiuntl 

He  was  doubtless  a  wise  and  observing  man  who 
first  wrote  the  words  poeta  nascitur  non  fit,  which,  being 
interpreted,  tells  us  that  a  poet  is  born,  not  made.  The 
only  criticism  one  can  make  on  this  remark  is  that  it  is 
too  narrow.  It  not  only  does  not  tell  half  of  the  story, 
but  it  simply  mentions  a  somewhat  minor  fact  which  is 
a  part  of  a  general  law.  For  the  fact  is  that  all  men 
are  bom  and  not  made  ! 

So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  observe,  every  one  who 
was  ever  born  can  do  some  things  much  more  easily 
than  he  can  do  some  other  things,  and  he  "always 
could."  Or,  to  put  it  the  other  way  about,  it  is  more 
difficult  for  him  to  do  some  things  than  it  is  for  him 
to  do  some  other  things,  and  it  was  "  always  so."  That 
is,  to  every  individual  there  are  given,  from  birth,  cer- 
tain abilities  to  function  in  certain  mental  planes ;  from 
every  individual,  from  birth,  there  are  denied  or  with- 
held certain  abilities  to  function  in  certain  mental 
planes,  and  to  do  the  things  thereunto  related. 

28 


NASCITUR  NON  FIT  29 

Does  this  proposition  seem  startling  ?  It  surely  is 
so.  But  the  issue  is  not  there.  It  is  really  irrelevant 
whether  it  be  astounding  or  commonplace.  The  only 
question  worth  while  is,  what  are  the  facts  in  the  case } 
These  established,  the  next  question  is  what  to  do, 
these  things  being  as  they  are } 

Now  I  am  well  aware  that  it  is  a  popular  theory, 
especially  in  this  "  land  of  the  free,"  that  any  man  can 
do  anything  he  undertakes  to  do  whether  he  "  has  any 
head  "  for  it  or  not,  if  he  tries  hard  enough  and  keeps 
trying  long  enough.  This  idea  has  been  carried  so  far 
as  to  elicit  the  statement  that  even  "  genius  is  only  an 
appetite  for  hard  work." 

This  sentiment  may  be  popular,  but  the  experiences 
of  humanity  prove  to  every  thoughtful  individual  that  it 
is  not  true.  Ask  yourself  if  it  has  proved  true  in  your 
own  case.  Then  look  about  among  your  neighbors  and 
acquaintances,  and  see  if  it  has  proved  true  in  their 
cases.  Never  mind  about  what  "some  one  says!" 
The  evidences  that  you  and  I  are  aware  of  are  as  good 
as  any !  Consider  these  well,  and  then  give  an  honest 
verdict. 

My  opinion  is  that  the  net  result  of  your  observations 
will  establish  the  conclusion  in  you  that,  while  hard  work 
and  devotion  to  business  are  among  the  best  means  in 
the  world  for  securing  success;  yet,  even  they  will  not 
bring  that  result  unless  the  striver  and  worker  has  some 
sort  of  "  head  "  for  what  he  is  trying  to  do.  At  least, 
this  is  true,  that,  if  one  has  a  head  for  what  he  is  work- 
ing for,  his  chances  for  succeeding  are  many  fold  better 
than  they  would  otherwise  be.  Even  the  admission  of 
so  much  is  all  that  is  necessary  —  is  enough  to  establish 
my  point. 


30  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

Now  the  fact  is  that  if  you  will  go  into  any  walk  of  life 
and  talk  with  people  who  know  about  the  details  of  that 
especial  way  of  living  and  doing  —  what  are  the  require- 
ments for  success  therein,  and  who  are  worthy  to  be 
reckoned  as  worth  while  and  at  the  fore,  —  you  will  be 
told  by  such  people  who  know,  that  "winners  in  our  line 
must  be  born  and  not  made ! "  There  is  not  a  single 
exception  to  this  statement.  I  have  tested  it  a  thousand 
times,  and  it  always  comes  out  the  same  way.  Try  it, 
and  my  conclusion  will  be  yours. 

And  yet,  the  popular  theory  is  that  these  things  are 
not  so.  Every  successful  man  knows  that  in  his  special 
line  of  work  those  who  are  "  the  real  thing  "  must  be 
born  and  not  made  ;  but  he  has  a  theory  that  the  same 
principle  does  not  hold  true  in  other  spheres  of  labor. 
Every  successful  doctor,  engineer,  architect,  farmer, 
teacher,  stock  breeder,  brick  maker,  hotel  keeper, 
chicken  raiser,  rat  catcher,  musician,  cook,  sea  captain, 
general,  preacher,  inventor,  author,  financier,  bookseller, 
insurance  agent,  and  so  on  to  the  end  of  the  line,  up 
or  down  —  all  of  them  who  know  the  details  of  their 
business  and  who  are  successful  therein,  to  a  man,  will 
say,  when  speaking  of  their  own  line  of  work :  "  The 
winners  in  our  line  must  be  born  and  not  made." 

In  investigating  these  phenomena,  I  have  been  sur- 
prised beyond  telling  to  find  how  far-reaching  this  prin- 
ciple is.  There  are  lines  of  Ufe  that  have  seemed  to  me 
so  simple  and  elementary  that  any  one  could  master 
their  requirements,  especially  if  he  tried  hard  to  do  so. 
But  even  here  I  have  found  the  "  born  and  not  made  " 
principle  positively  in  evidence. 

I  was  talking  once  with  a  railroad  manager  whom  I 
overheard  telling  one  of  his  "traveling  engineers"  to 


NASCITUR  NON  FIT  3 1 

look  after  a  certain  fireman  on  his  division,  and  I  heard 
him  say :  "  If  he  can't  learn  to  do  it,  you'll  have  to  let 
him  go."  And  I  said:  "Can't  learn  to  do  what?" 
To  which  the  manager  replied:  "To  shovel  coal  into  the 
fire  box ! " 

"  Do  you  mean  to  say,"  I  asked,  "  that  it  is  possible 
that  a  man  can  be  found  who  can't  learn  to  shovel  coal 
into  a  locomotive  furnace  ? " 

And  this  is  the  answer  I  got :  "  Sure !  It  is  only 
about  one  in  four  who  try  to  do  it  that  can  learn  to  do  it 
right."  And  then  he  added:  "A  fireman  has  to  be 
born,  he  can't  be  made  !  " 

I  had  no  idea  that  so  apparently  simple  a  matter  as 
shoveling  coal  into  a  fire  box  demanded  initial  aptitude 
for  such  work,  and  I  am  quite  certain  that  many  who 
read  these  lines  will  pooh-pooh  the  statement.  But  if 
they  will  inquire  of  the  men  who  know  about  such  things, 
they  will  find  it  is  only  a  plain,  unvarnished  tale  that  I 
have  unfolded. 

And  so  it  is  in  any  line  of  work  that  may  ^e  named. 
The  universal  complaint  amongst  all  classes  of  employers 
is  that  they  cannot  find  people  who  have  initial  ability 
to  do  the  work  required  of  them.  (I  know  a  merchant 
who  hunted  the  country  over  before  he  found  a  man  who 
could  do  up  packages  to  suit  him.)  It  is  said  that  only 
about  four  in  one  hundred  who  enter  the  mercantile  pro- 
fession succeed  in  that  calling.  Ask  any  successful 
merchant  why  these  fail,  and  he  will  tell  you  that  they 
have  no  "  head  "  for  such  work.  The  chances  are  that 
he  will  add :  "  A  merchant  must  be  born,  he  can't  be 
made."     And  it  is  true. 

And  so  it  is  everywhere.  The  born-and-not-made 
principle  is  universal. 


32 


ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 


Of  course,  there  are  many  people,  probably  a  large 
majority,  who  can  do  more  than  one  thing  well.  There 
are  not  a  few  who  are  exceedingly  versatile.  But  even 
the  best  of  these  have  their  "short"  places;  there  are 
things  they  cannot  do  well,  —  things  they  have  no  initial 
abiUty  to  do,  and  which,  if  they  are  wise  and  are  aware 
of  their  "  shortage,"  they  will  not  try  to  do.  Think  how 
it  is  with  you. 

Under  which  circumstances,  I  beg  to  submit  that  I 
believe  it  to  be  universally  true  that  any  individual  will 
succeed  best  in  doing  work  that  he  has  a  natural  "  head  " 
for,  that  he  was  "  born  long  "  on,  that  he  has  initial 
ability  to  do.  On  the  other  hand,  no  individual  can 
successfully  compete  in  any  calling  in  which  he  is  "born 
short,"  is  not  apt  in,  has  no  "  knack  "  in  pursuing.  All 
of  which  is  only  saying  that  a  square  peg  will  not  fit  and 
fill  a  round  hole  as  well  as  a  round  one  will. 

But,  it  is  contended,  if  the  hole  is  round  and  the  peg  is 
square,  make  the  peg  round  !  To  which  I  answer,  it  all 
depends  on  the  nature  of  the  peg  as  to  how  successfully 
this  can  be  done.  And  I  might  add  that  many  a  good 
square  peg  has  been  ruined  in  trying  to  make  it  round, 
and  vice  versa.  The  truth  is,  that,  so  far  as  human  nature 
is  concerned,  it  is  far  harder  to  make  a  natural  shortage 
long  than  is  generally  conceded ;  especially  is  it  very 
much  harder  than  some  teachers  and  most  professors  of 
pedagogy  generally  will  admit.  There  are  reasons  for 
this,  which  will  be  considered  later. 

It  is  true,  of  course,  that  training  can  do  much  to  in- 
crease efficiency,  that  culture  can  augment  native  power. 
What  is  not  true  is  the  claim  that  training  and  culture 
can  create,  de  novo,  abilities  that  are  not  inborn.  Here 
is  a  fundamental  psychological    fact    whose  truth    is 


NASCITUR  NON  FIT 


33 


generally  denied  in  the  pedagogical  profession.  And 
yet,  so  far  as  each  individual  who  reads  these  lines  is 
concerned,  each  one  knows  that  the  experiences  I  have 
stated  are  true  in  his  or  her  case.  Think,  here,  of  your 
own  experiences  in  this  regard. 

I  was  talking,  only  last  evening,  with  a  very  success- 
ful real  estate  agent  of  my  acquaintance.  We  were 
speaking  of  "  shorts "  and  "  longs,"  and  he  said :  "  I 
think  I  was  'short'  on  grammar.  I  graduated  from 
the  high  school,  but  I  didn't  know  a  thing  about  gram- 
mar then,  and  I  don't  know  now.  I  couldn't  tell  a  verb 
from  a  noun  now,  to  save  my  life.  I  was  a  good  guesser, 
and  I  guessed  my  way  through  that  study,  from  start  to 
finish,  so  that  they  passed  me,  somehow.  But  I  believe 
I  could  have  been  made  to  learn  grammar  if  my  teacher 
had  gone  at  me  hard  enough,"  he  went  on  to  say,  "  and 
I'll  tell  you  why.  One  evening  my  teacher  made  me 
stay  after  school  to  learn  the  list  of  pronominal  adjec- 
tives. Now  I  have  no  more  idea  what  a  pronominal 
adjective  is  than  the  man  in  the  moon.  I  hadn't  then, 
and  I  haven't  now.  But  there  was  a  game  of  ball  called 
for  half -past  four  that  evening,  and  I  had  to  pitch  it,  and 
I  knew  that  my  teacher  meant  business  and  that  that  list 
of  words  had  to  be  learned  before  I  could  get  out.  The 
result  was  that  I  learned  the  list  in  twenty  minutes,  and 
I  can  repeat  it  to  this  day,  though  that  was  thirty  years 
ago."     And  then  he  repeated  the  list  to  prove  his  words. 

And  I  said :  "  Have  you  ever  made  any  use  of  this 
list  of  words  in  the  thirty  years  you  have  been  able  to 
repeat  them .? " 

And  he  replied:  "No,  but  I  learned  'em!     And  if  I 
could  be  made  to  learn  them,  why  not  the  rest  of  the 
grammar  ? " 
r» 


34  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

Upon  which  I  thought,  cut  bono  ?  but  I  said  not  a  word. 
Silence  is  sometimes  golden. 

Later,  this  same  man  told  me  that,  in  the  hundreds  of 
deeds  he  had  written  in  connection  with  his  real  estate 
business,  not  once  had  he  ever  gone  to  a  record  to  find 
out  the  description  of  any  piece  of  land  he  was  deeding. 
He  said :  "  Whenever  I  handle  a  piece  of  land,  the  first 
thing  I  do  is  to  get  my  foot  on  it,  to  see  just  where  it  is  ; 
and,  after  that,  I  can  always  remember  the  description  of 
it.  In  the  hundreds  of  deeds  I  have  written  I  have  never 
looked  up  a  record,  and  I  have  never  made  a  mistake." 

Then  I  asked  him  if  he  thought  he  could  write  a 
grammar  in  a  similar  way,  and  with  equal  accuracy  ? 
Whereupon  he  laughed  me  to  scorn,  and  said :  "If  I 
should  live  to  the  age  of  Methuselah,  and  study  grammar 
all  the  time,  I  don't  think  I  should  ever  know  enough 
about  it  to  give  an  intelligent  opinion  on  the  subject." 

I  asked  him  if  he  thought  he  could  have  competed 
successfully  as  a  grammar  maker  or  teacher,  and  then 
he  was  silent.  There  are  times  when  "  only  silence  is 
fully  expressive." 

I  have  taken  space  and  time  to  report  this  case  fully, 
because  it  is  so  perfect  a  type  of  a  widely  distributed 
feeling  and  belief  amongst  multitudes  of  people.  To 
this  man  it  seemed  an  easy  thing  to  write  deeds  as  he 
did,  to  remember  the  exact  description  of  every  piece  of 
land  he  had  ever  handled.  He  told  me  he  believed  I 
could  do  it,  that  I  surely  ought  to  be  able  to,  since  I 
could  repeat  a  poem  of  sixty-four  lines  from  hearing  it 
once !  But  when  I  asked  him  why  he  did  not  remem- 
ber poetry  as  well  as  he  did  descriptions  of  land,  he 
replied  :  "  I  wasn't  born  that  way  !  " 

And  I  said  :  "The  argument  is  closed." 


NASCITUR  NON  FIT  35 

This  man  is  a  successful  real  estate  agent  because 
he  can  utilize,  in  that  business,  his  excess  of  ability  to 
function  in  a  mental  plane  that  fits  his  business  per- 
fectly. In  such  a  line  of  work  I  should  have  failed 
ignominiously.  I  could  not,  to-day,  give  a  description 
of  the  piece  of  land  I  have  lived  on,  though  I  have  paid 
taxes  on  it  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  so  have  seen  a 
written  description  of  it  at  least  once  a  year  for  that  length 
of  time.  I  was  not  born  to  remember  data  of  that  sort, 
and  no  amount  of  training  could  fit  me  to  compete  in 
the  real  estate  business  with  a  man  who  has  such  a 
head  for  that  sort  of  thing  as  my  friend  has. 

Here,  then,  is  my  conclusion,  namely,  that  experience 
proves  that  it  is  not  wise  for  any  man  to  base  the  motive 
of  his  life  work  on  the  theory  that  he  can  do  one  thing 
just  as  well  as  he  can  another,  if  he  only  tries  hard 
enough  and  keeps  trying  long  enough.  The  sane  thing 
to  do,  in  every  case,  is  for  each  individual  to  take  ac- 
count of  his  own  initial  abilities  and  inabilities,  where 
he  is  "  short,"  and  where  he  is  "  long,"  and  plan  his  life 
work  accordingly  just  as  far  as  his  environment  will 
permit  him  to  do  so. 

The  fact  is,  there  has  been  any  amount  of  false  teach- 
ing on  this  point,  to  the  effect  that  the  harder  it  is  for 
one  to  do  any  particular  thing  the  more  virtue  there  is 
in  doing  just  that  thing,  and  the  greater  will  be  the 
returns  to  the  doer  in  the  way  of  added  strength  and 
increased  ability.  It  is  true  that  added  strength  comes 
from  overcoming  resistance,  to  a  certain  degree;  but 
there  is  a  limit  to  the  principle,  and  that  limit  is  reached 
when  the  person  attempting  to  overcome  such  resistance 
has  not  enough  understanding  of  the  situation  to  attack 
intelligently  the  forces  against  which  he  strives. 


36  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

There  was  great  sense  in  the  words  Mr.  Lincoln  once 
wrote  to  a  young  -man  who  asked  him  to  map  out  his 
life's  work  for  him.  Lincoln  wrote :  "  An  intelligent 
perseverance  is  the  surest  guarantee  to  success  in  life." 
That  tells  the  whole  story.  It  is  not  only  essential  to 
persevere,  but  to  do  so  intelligently.  And  when  a  per- 
son is  born  so  short  in  a  given  line  that  he  has  no  intel- 
ligence to  bring  to  bear  on  the  issue,  his  struggles  to 
succeed  lead  only  to  disgust  and  despair.  Such  a  per- 
son simply  strikes  blindly,  and  he  is  just  as  liable  to 
wound  himself  as  he  is  to  break  down  the  barriers  he  is 
trying  to  hurl  himself  against.  The  pity  of  it  all  is 
beyond  telling,  and  we  have  all  seen  such  cases,  time  and 
again.  Fortunate  are  we  if  we  have  not  had  many  such 
experiences  ourselves.  Most  of  us  have  had  them,  to  a 
greater  or  less  degree. 

So  it  turns  out  that  the  best  results  will  come  to  any 
individual  by  having  him  move  out  strongly,  resolutely, 
in  lines  of  life  on  which  he  is  "  born  long,"  for  which 
he  has  innate  aptitude,  where  he  has  an  excess  of  ability 
to  function  in  the  particular  mental  plane  involved. 

The  world  has  no  use  for  blunderers;  and  he  who 
tries  to  run  without  eyes  to  see  where  he  is  going  will 
surely  fall  into  the  ditch.  The  wise  thing  to  do  is  to 
test  one's  vision  before  beginning  the  race,  and  to  be 
willing  to  accept  the  verdict  of  such  bringing  to  the 
proof.  If  that  shows  you  are  blind,  then  do  not  try 
ways  that  require  eyesight  as  a  requisite  for  success 
therein.  Test  ears,  hands,  voice,  everything  —  find  out 
where  you  are  "short"  and  where  "long,"  and  then 
true  your  life  work  by  your  native  ability,  just  as  far  as 
it  is  possible  for  you  to  do  so. 

The   color-blind   boy   of   my   youthful   acquaintance 


NASCITUR  NON  FIT  37 

never  made  an  artist.  He  could  not.  Neither  did  the 
little  monotone  girl  become  a  singer.  She  could  not. 
General  Grant  did  not  become  a  financier.  He  could 
not.  Sumner  did  not  become  a  mathematician.  He 
could  not.  My  real  estate  friend  did  not  become  a 
grammarian.  He  could  not.  I  have  never  glistened  as 
a  Latin  and  Greek  scholar.     I    could  not.     You  have 

never  (fill  this  Hne  out  to 

suit  your  own  case).  You  could  not.  You  were  not 
born  that  way.  Neither  were  any  of  the  rest  of  us 
born  to  do  the  things  we  have  not  native  wit  enough  to 
work  at  intelligently. 

And  so  the  man  who  wrote  poeta  nascitur,  non  fit 
wrote  too  small.  He  should  have  written  Onmes  nas- 
cuntiir,  non  fiunt.  (I  got  a  friend  who  is  "long"  on 
Latin  to  universalize  this  sentence  for  me,  so  I  think 
it  is  right,  though  I  cannot  say  it  is,  of  my  own 
knowledge.) 

I  shall  return  to  some  of  the  issues  involved  in  this 
chapter,  in  a  later  part  of  this  book,  but  I  have  said 
enough  here  to  serve  present  purposes. 


CHAPTER   V 

HOW   CAN   THESE   THINGS   BE  ? 

Pertinence  of  this  Query  —  Glass  and  Copper  as  Electric  Conduc- 
tors—  How,  not  Why,  the  Issue  —  A  Tentative  Hypothesis  — 
Mental  Functional  Ability  determined  by  Bodily  Conditions  — 
What  is  the  Human  Mind  ? — The  Mind  one  Thing,  and  the 
Body  another  Thing  —  The  Body  a  Means  through  which  the 
Mind  functions  —  The  Brain  a  Machine  which  the  Mind  uses  — 
An  Analogy  —  Musician  and  Piano  —  Mind  and  Body  —  The 
Nervous  System  and  other  Bodily  Organs  —  Relative  Value  of 
these  as  Factors  in  Mental  Functioning. 

Perhaps  some  of  my  pragmatic  readers  may  remark 
as  they  note  the  heading  of  this  chapter :  *'  Never  mind 
how  it  is  that  these  things  are.  If  they  are,  they  are, 
and  that  settles  it.  What  is  the  use  of  speculating  as  to 
the  modus  operandi  in  the  premises  .'' " 

To  which  I  reply  that  a  study  into  the  way  things 
work  has  resulted  in  great  good  in  this  world.  It  is 
true  that  no  one  ever  has,  or  ever  can  arrive  at  the 
absolute  ultimate  cause  of  any  phenomenon,  physical  or 
otherwise.  No  one  can  tell  why  it  is  that  copper  is  a 
good  medium  for  conducting  a  current  of  electricity  while 
glass  is  not.  Yet  a  knowledge  of  these  facts  is  really 
worth  while,  and  to  ignore  them  is  worse  than  folly. 
One  would  hardly  sin  should  he  say  that  any  man  is  a 
fool  who  should  attempt  to  force  an  electric  current 
through  glass,  or  who  should  try  to  insulate  himself 
with  a  casing  of  copper ! 

If  we  can  find  out  how  things  are,  how  the  forces 
that  do  things  work,  there  is  a  possibility  of  our  con- 

38 


HOW  CAN  THESE  THINGS   BE?  39 

trolling  the  action  of  such  forces,  in  a  measure,  at  least, 
and  of  utilizing  for  good  what  might  otherwise  be  harm- 
ful or  fatal.  Franklin's  fundamental  discoveries  as  to 
how  lightning  behaved  have  led  to  great  results.  No 
one  has  ever  found  out  why  lightning  does  as  it  does, 
but  the  knowledge  of  how  it  does  is  of  value. 

It  is  not  impossible  that  a  speculation  regarding  the 
phenomena  of  "  shorts "  and  "  longs,"  as  exhibited  in 
humanity,  may  also  lead  towards  something  worth 
while.  It  is  for  such  reason  that  I  present  this  and  the 
immediately  following  chapters.  In  doing  so,  I  am  not 
claiming  that  I  am  a  second  Franklin.  All  I  am  anx- 
ious to  do  is  to  seek  for  the  truth  as  Franklin  sought 
for  the  truth. 

Now,  I  am  not  much  given  to  speculation,  and  yet, 
as  the  years  have  gone  on,  and  as  I  have  observed  so 
many  hundreds  of  these  "long"  and  "short"  cases,  I 
have  been  forced  to  formulate  some  theory  as  to  the 
how  and  wherefore  of  these  widespread  phenomena. 
And  while,  frankly,  I  have  not  as  yet  arrived  at  any 
positive  conclusion  in  the  premises,  yet  I  have  a  ten- 
tative hypothesis  which  I  am  going  to  set  down  here, 
with  the  hope  that  the  reader  will  help  to  verify  or  to 
disprove  it. 

In  a  word,  then,  I  am  very  strongly  inclined  to  the 
belief  that  these  wide  variations  in  individual  make-up 
are,  for  the  most  part,  at  least  to  an  extent  far  beyond 
what  has  generally  been  supposed,  seated  in  the  body 
—  that  they  are  the  result,  in  most  cases,  if  not  in  every 
one  of  them,  of  body  differences,  and  not  of  ultimate 
mental  differences,  in  the  individuals  in  which  they 
manifest  themselves.  I  am  not  yet  prepared  to  say, 
positively,  that  this  is  so ;  but  I  do  say,  quite  emphati- 


40  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

cally,  that  I  very  strongly  suspect  it  is  so,  and  that  the 
longer  I  live,  and  the  more  generally  and  closely  I  ob- 
serve the  phenomena  involved,  the  more  I  am  confirmed 
in  the  correctness  of  my  surmise.  Some  of  my  reasons 
for  so  thinking  are  as  follows  :  — 

Of  course,  the  whole  issue  turns  on  the  basic  question 
as  to  what  the  human  mind  really  is,  and  this  is  not  an 
easy  thing  to  find  out.  The  wisest  men  of  all  the  ages 
have  had  their  theories  about  it,  and  they  have  differed 
on  this  point  as  far  as  the  poles  are  sundered.  I  have 
neither  the  time,  space,  strength,  nor  patience  to  attempt 
here  any  resum6  of  what  all  these  have  thought,  written, 
and  said ;  still  less  do  I  flatter  myself  that  I  am  wiser 
than  any  one  or  all  of  these;  or  that  I  can  make  as 
clear  as  daylight  that  which  so  many  before  my  time 
have  only  succeeded  in  making  cloudy.  But  I  have  a 
few  ideas  to  submit  for  you  to  think  about,  and  to  have 
you  bring  to  the  proof,  to  the  best  of  your  ability.  For, 
as  has  been  well  said,  "  a  theory,  to  be  of  any  account, 
must  tally  with  the  amplitude  of  the  whole  earth " ; 
and  you  and  I  and  the  facts  that  we  can  present  are  a 
part  of  that  amplitude. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  my  own  experience  with  my- 
self (and  that  is  a  good  place  for  us  all  to  begin)  and 
my  observations  of  my  fellow  men  lead  me  to  believe 
that  the  body  is  one  thing  and  that  the  mind  is  another, 
and  a  wholly  different  thing.  How  do  you  feel  about 
that,  dear  reader?  How  does  it  tally  with  your  own 
experience  in  the  premises  ?  I  don't  care  even  to  ask 
how  it  tallies  with  what  you  may  have  been  taught,  or 
have  learned  from  books,  or  have  been  led  to  think, 
from  any  other  source  than  your  own  ultimate  self.  All 
I  am  anxious  about  is,  how  it  squares  with  your  own 


HOW  CAN  THESE  THINGS  BE?  41 

experiences  and  observation.  Settle  that,  and  then  we 
will  move  on. 

I,  personally,  am  fully  convinced  that  the  body  and 
the  mind  are  not  one  and  the  same  thing.  They  are 
different  things,  and  each  plays  its  separate  part  in  the 
phenomena  in  question.  To  me,  the  body  is  merely  a 
means  through  which  the  mind  expresses  itself  in  time 
and  space.  It  is  a  machine  which  the  mind  energizes 
and  causes  to  act.  It  is  a  medium  through  which  the 
mind  functions ;  and  the  lack  or  excess  of  ability  of  the 
mind  to  function  in  any  given  plane  depends  upon  the 
perfection  of  the  medium  as  a  means  of  transmitting 
the  mind  force  in  that  particular  field. 

I  am  not  a  materialist.  I  do  not  even  believe  that 
"  the  liver  secretes  bile  " ;  much  less  do  I  believe  that 
"the  brain  secretes  thought."  I  would  rather  say  that 
the  brain  is  the  means  through  which  the  mind  makes 
thought  manifest,  just  as  the  liver  is  the  organ  through 
which  bile  is  made  manifest.  In  either  case  it  is  a 
force  other  than  the  organ  itself  which  functions  through 
the  organ,  or  causes  the  organ  to  function. 

The  best  guess  that  I  can  make  about  the  combina- 
tion is,  that  the  thinker,  —  the  mind,  the  ego,  or  what- 
ever else  you  may  choose  to  call  it,  —  that  which  is  the 
real  self,  —  that  this  is  the  power  behind  the  throne, 
as  it  were,  and  so  is  the  ultimate  cause  of  all  those 
manifestations  that  come  to  the  surface  through  the 
human  body.  These  things  make  me  beheve  that  the 
body  is  only  the  machine  through  which  the  mind  acts. 
It  is  the  medium  by  means  of  which  the  ego  can  express 
itself  in  time  and  space. 

I  know  that  analogy  is  a  dangerous  guide  to  go  by, 
but  I  use  one  here  at  a  venture,  not  for  the  sake  of 


42  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

trying  to  force  a  point,  nor  insisting  that  it  is  wholly 
conclusive,  but  in  the  hope  of  more  clearly  illustrating, 
perhaps,  what  I  am  trying  to  say. 

A  musician  and  a  piano  are  not  one  and  the  same 
thing.  Each  uses  the  other,  each  is  of  value  to  the 
other.  But  the  piano  is  only  the  machine  through 
which  the  musician  expresses  himself,  —  makes  himself, 
his  art,  manifest  in  time  and  space.  There  is  no  music 
in  the  piano,  per  se.  The  music  is  all  in  the  musician 
who  sits  at  the  instrument. 

But,  no  matter  how  good  the  musician  who  sits  at 
the  piano  may  be,  if  the  instrument  be  imperfect  or 
unstrung,  he  can  get  no  music  out  of  it.  You  may 
say,  "turn  your  figure  around,  and  then  see  what 
comes  of  it ;  namely,  no  matter  how  good  the  piano 
may  be,  if  the  player  is  a  fool  he  will  make  no  music." 
You  have  a  right  to  ask  me  to  turn  the  figure  around, 
and  I  will  do  so.  But  first,  let  me  take  it  my  way, 
for  a  while.  I  will  consider  it  the  other  way  around 
later  on. 

I  have  come,  then,  to  think  of  the  mind  and  the 
body  as  related  to  each  other  something  after  the 
manner  of  the  musician  and  the  piano.  The  mind 
plays  upon  the  body,  uses  it,  makes  itself  manifest 
through  it  And,  just  as  the  strings  and  keys  of  the 
piano  are  nearest  in  touch  to  the  musician,  are  the  parts 
of  the  machine  that  he  is  most  in  contact  with,  so  the 
brain  and  the  nervous  system  of  the  body  are  nearest 
to  the  mind,  and  most  directly  connected  with  it.  It  is 
through  these  physical  organs  that  the  mind  acts.  All 
the  other  parts  of  the  piano  sustain  the  strings  and  the 
keys,  and  make  them  available  for  their  especial  work. 
All  the  other  parts  of  the  body  sustain  the  brain  and 


HOW  CAN  THESE  THINGS   BE?  43 

the  nervous  system,  and  make  them  available  for  their 
especial  work. 

I  do  not  wish  to  carry  the  analogy  too  far,  but  I  be- 
lieve that  it  can  be  pushed  safely  one  point  farther.  For 
instance,  some  of  the  comparatively  less  essential  parts 
of  the  piano  may  be  in  bad  shape,  or  altogether  wanting, 
and  still  the  piano  may  be  made  to  discourse  fairly  good 
music.  A  leg  may  be  broken,  or  the  cover  cracked,  or 
the  ivory  from  a  key  altogether  gone,  and  still  the 
essentials  of  the  instrument  may  not  be  much  affected. 
But  if  the  peg,  or  hammer  of  a  key  be  wanting;  or, 
worse  than  this,  if  a  string  be  run  down  or  broken  — 
then  there  can  be  no  music  gotten  from  that  piano,  so 
far  as  that  key  or  that  string  is  concerned.  You  may 
use  other  keys  and  other  strings,  on  this  same  instru- 
ment, and  get  as  beautiful  tones  as  ever  came  from  a 
musical  machine ;  but  as  soon  as  you  touch  the  broken 
key,  or  the  untuned  string,  you  get  only  discord,  or  no 
response  whatever  for  your  stimulative  effort,  which, 
under  right  conditions  in  the  instrument,  would  produce 
harmony. 

Good  people,  so  far  as  my  own  experience  goes,  and 
so  far  as  my  observation  among  my  fellow  men  extends, 
the  analogy  holds  good,  so  good  that  I  feel  almost  as 
though  there  could  be  little  need  of  saying  anything 
further  upon  the  subject.  To  me  it  seems  clear  that 
this  relation  between  the  musician  and  the  piano  is  al- 
most perfectly  typical  of  that  which  exists  between  the 
mind  and  the  body.  And  yet,  to  make  myself  thor- 
oughly understood,  I  shall  have  to  go  somewhat  more 
into  detail  in  considering  the  human  side  of  the  com- 
parison. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  now  a  well-known  fact  that 


44         ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

the  brain  and  the  nervous  system  of  the  body  are  the 
especial  organs  through  which  the  mind  more  immedi- 
ately acts.  This  is  particularly  true  of  the  brain,  and  to 
a  large  extent  of  the  nervous  system.  More  than  this, 
the  most  recent  discoveries  regarding  the  functions  of 
the  brain  have  proved  that  certain  parts  of  this  organism 
are  especially  related  to,  or  have  specially  to  do  with 
the  reception  and  translation  of  stimulative  forces  that 
affect  the  body  from  without.  That  is,  there  is  a  cer- 
tain part  of  the  brain  that  has  to  do  with  the  sense  of 
hearing,  another  with  the  sense  of  sight,  another  with 
the  taste,  another  with  smell,  and  so  forth.  If  you 
remove  one  of  these  special  parts  of  the  brain  (and  such 
often  have  been  removed,  or  made  ineffective  by  acci- 
dent, or  knife,  or  disease),  it  is  no  longer  possible  for  the 
sensation  which  that  part  of  the  brain  has  to  do  with 
to  be  experienced  at  all.  Thus,  if  the  part  of  the  brain 
which  has  to  do  with  sight  is  removed,  or  rendered 
inoperative  in  a  given  individual,  it  is  no  longer  possible 
to  see.  No  matter  how  perfect  the  eye  of  that  person 
may  be,  he  cannot  see.  And  so  of  any  part  of  the  brain 
having  to  do  with  the  other  bodily  sensations.  If  any 
part  is  wanting,  or  imperfect,  it  is  impossible  for  normal 
results  to  be  obtained  for  the  individual,  wherever  these 
faulty  places  appear. 

Further,  not  only  may  imperfect  results  come  from 
bad  brain  conditions,  but  the  same  unfortunate  experi- 
ences may  arise  from  the  failure  of  the  nerves  and 
nerve  centers  to  do  their  appointed  tasks.  Thus,  a 
nerve  may  be  diseased,  or  paralyzed,  or  its  proper  blood 
supply  interfered  with,  so  that  it  cannot  work  normally, 
and  under  such  conditions  it  is  impossible  for  the  indi- 
vidual suffering  from  such  malady  to  do  what  could 


HOW  CAN  THESE  THINGS  BE?  45 

easily  be  done  but  for  these  obstructions.  If,  in  a  given 
case,  the  nerves  of  the  eye  are  in  bad  condition,  the 
person  who  tries  to  use  the  eye  cannot  do  so  success- 
fully ;  his  sight  will  be  more  or  less  affected,  according 
to  the  degree  of  the  imperfection  in  the  nerve  system 
involved.  No  matter  how  perfect  the  eye  itself  may  be, 
if  the  nerves  are  imperfect  there  can  be  no  clear  sight. 
The  whole  body  will  be  full  of  darkness.  And  so  of 
any  other  organ ;  if  its  nerves  are  bad,  it  is  impossible 
for  it  to  do  what  it  could  do  under  normal  conditions. 

Or,  go  a  step  farther.  If  other  parts  of  the  body,  — 
the  bones  or  the  muscles  which  support  the  nerves  and 
brain,  —  if  these  be  imperfect,  or  interfered  with  to  a 
sufficient  degree,  such  disturbance  will  affect  the  nor- 
mal working  of  the  mind  through  its  medium.  If  the 
skull  be  crushed,  the  brain  is  made  inoperative.  If  the 
muscles  that  make  the  heart  beat  should  be  cut,  or 
made  powerless  in  any  way,  it  is  needless  to  say  that 
the  effect  of  such  physical  injury  would  be  at  once 
manifest  in  the  mental  functioning  power  of  the  person 
suffering  from  such  a  cause.  Of  course  both  these 
illustrations  are  at  the  extreme  of  possibilities  in  their 
respective  directions ;  but  I  have  purposely  chosen  them, 
so  that  there  could  be  no  chance  for  doubt  or  question 
in  the  premises.  No  one  will  dispute  that  a  person 
with  a  broken  head  or  a  still  heart  will  be  unable  to  do 
very  much  clear  and  definite  thinking.  And  that  is  the 
point  I  am  after  just  now.  I  take  it  that  so  much  is 
settled. 

But  now  note  that  all  the  organs  that  I  have  men- 
tioned—  the  brain,  the  nerves,  the  bones,  the  muscles, 
etc.  —  are  all  of  the  body.  They  all  correspond  to  the 
various  parts  of  the  piano  —  the  strings,  keys,  sounding 


46  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

board,  framework  of  the  instrument,  etc.  My  point  is 
that,  just  as,  when  some  essential  part  of  a  piano  is 
imperfect,  or  what  it  should  not  be,  or  altogether  want- 
ing, it  is  impossible  for  the  musician  to  get  good  music 
from  the  instrument;  just  so,  when  some  essential  part 
of  the  human  body  is  imperfect,  or  what  it  should  not 
be,  or  altogether  wanting,  it  is  impossible  for  the  mind 
to  get  good  mental  results  through  such  a  body. 

Having  said  which,  my  readers  may  ask :  "  Yes,  but 
how  does  it  happen  that  we  have  imperfect  bodies  to 
begin  with  ?  Why  are  bodies  brought  into  this  world 
only  partly  made  up .? " 

And  the  only  answer  I  can  make  to  such  a  legitimate 
question  is  that  I  don't  know !  Neither  do  I  know  of 
any  one  who  does  know !  As  I  have  said  at  the  begin- 
ning of  this  chapter,  there  are  limits  to  human  knowl- 
edge, and  a  veil  of  mystery  always  closes  down  beyond 
the  limits  of  finite  vision.  True,  this  obscure  and  tan- 
talizing barrier  has  been  cleared  away  by  modern  sci- 
entific research  at  many  points  that  were  once  counted 
as  impenetrable ;  and  the  enthusiastic  labors  of  those 
who  are  now  engaged  upon  the  problem  of  eugenics 
give  promise  of  doing  something  towards  helping  hu- 
manity to  be  better  bodied  from  the  outset  some  time. 
Let  us  hope  that  this  may  be  the  outcome  of  such 
endeavors. 

Meantime,  it  is  only  fair  to  say  that,  so  far  as  this 
treatise  is  concerned,  all  this  "  related  matter  "  is  "  an- 
other story,"  as  Mr.  Kipling  says ;  and,  being  so,  it  is 
beyond  the  province  of  the  issue  I  am  discussing  to 
consider  it  at  all. 

I  would  begin  and  go  forward  from  the  point  where 
the  eugenic  researcher  begins  and  goes  backward.     He 


HOW  CAN  THESE  THINGS   BE?  47 

Strives  to  discover  how  bodies  may  be  made  better  be- 
fore they  come  into  this  world.  I  would  try  to  find  the 
best  ways  of  handling  such  bodies  as  we  now  have  in 
stock,  at  this  present  now,  so  as  to  get  the  best  results 
for  those  who  inhabit  them,  through  the  already  fur- 
nished physical  media  for  mental  functioning.  The  two 
problems  are  entirely  distinct,  and  they  must  be  worked 
out  each  in  its  own  way. 

My  theory  is  that  bodily  conditions,  especially  such 
as  obtain  at  birth,  greatly  modify,  limit,  and  determine 
mental  functionings.  I  have  already  given  some  proofs 
to  substantiate  this  position ;  but  more  evidence,  espe- 
cially on  certain  points,  is  needed  to  carry  the  argument 
to  the  point  of  positive  conviction.  I  believe  that  I 
have  such  evidence  in  hand,  plenty  of  it,  and  shall  pro- 
duce it  in  the  following  chapters.  Then  I  shall  proceed 
to  consider  what  such  facts  and  conditions  as  I  have 
established  have  to  do  with  our  attempts  to  educate  all 
the  children  of  all  the  people. 


CHAPTER   VI 

SOME   CASES   IN   POINT 

Localization  of  Functional  Parts  of  the  Brain  —  The  Emotions  — 
The  Spiritual  Powers  —  Idiots  not  "Feeble-Minded"  —  Limit- 
lessness  of  the  Ego  in  All  Mankind  —  The  Abihty  to  function 
mentally  limited  by  the  Body  —  Proofs  of  the  Proposition  —  Con- 
genital and  Adult  Cases  —  Why  Eyeglasses  are  worn  —  The 
Tangled  Telephone  —  Conditions  of  Insanity — Dr.  Bucke's  Ex- 
periments upon  Insane  Women. 

We  can  now  safely  take  the  next  step  in  this  study, 
namely,  that  not  only  is  it  true  that  certain  definite  parts 
of  the  brain  have  specially  to  do  with  receiving  and 
transmitting  the  bodily  sensations  of  hearing,  sight,  taste, 
and  the  rest,  as  noted  in  the  last  chapter,  but  that  it  is 
probably  equally  true  that  the  same  conditions  exist  with 
regard  to  the  subtler  phenomena  that  have  to  do  more 
particularly  with  the  mind  itself  —  the  emotions  and  all 
the  higher  forms  of  mental  expression.  Thus,  it  is  now 
a  thoroughly  established  fact  that  a  certain  part  of  the 
brain  has  specially  to  do  with  the  faculty  of  speech  ; 
or,  perhaps  better,  that  speech  is  given  expression 
through  the  use  of  a  certain  part  of  the  brain.  If  this 
part  of  the  brain  be  injured  or  diseased,  the  faculty  of 
speech  will  be  affected  to  a  greater  or  less  degree 
thereby.  If  it  be  entirely  removed  or  paralyzed,  speech 
becomes  utterly  impossible.  And  it  has  been  demon- 
strated that  such  a  part  of  the  brain  can  be  removed, 
and  still  the  patient  may  live. 

It  is  impossible  to  go  as  fully  into  details  on  this  part 

48 


SOME  CASES  IN  POINT  49 

of  my  theme  as  its  importance  really  demands  and  as  I 
should  be  glad  to  do  if  space  permitted.  There  are 
volumes  to  be  written  on  this  branch  of  the  subject 
alone.  Several  such  have  already  been  written,  and 
more  are  coming,  all  the  time.  There  are  undis- 
covered countries,  and  unmapped  regions,  right  here, 
that  it  is  to  be  hoped  will  be  found  out  and  exploited  in 
the  not  distant  future.  But  the  illustration  just  given 
puts  us  on  the  track  of  what  we  are  pursuing. 

Entering  a  higher  and  still  more  subtle  field  of  mental 
activity,  it  has  now  become  a  very  general  conviction 
among  psychologists  that  there  are  parts  of  the  brain 
that  have  to  do  especially  with  memory,  particularly 
with  some  phases  of  memory.  These  convictions  are 
based  upon  well-established  cases  of  people  who  have 
suffered  complete  loss  of  memory,  or  of  some  particular 
memories,  as  the  result  of  injury  or  disease  of  the 
brain.  Such  cases  are  not  uncommon ;  and  often, 
where  there  has  been  such  loss  or  eclipse  of  memory  for 
a  time,  it  has  been  made  good  again  upon  the  restora- 
tion of  the  affected  parts  of  the  brain  to  normal  con- 
ditions. 

Reasoning  on  the  inductive  basis  from  the  facts  just 
recited,  it  is  surely  a  most  natural  inference  that  still 
other  parts  of  the  brain  have  to  do  with  yet  higher 
mental  functionings  —  the  feelings,  the  emotions,  the 
spiritual  sensibilities,  and  all  the  more  subtle  activities 
of  the  mind.  For  here,  also,  brain  injury  has  often 
resulted  in  a  change  of  mental  expression  in  these 
particulars.  It  is  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that 
hope  has  been  stimulated  or  depressed,  jealousy  aroused, 
despair  produced,  devotion  or  worship  incited  or  in- 
hibited,   and   so   following,  by   some   physical   change 


50  ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

made  in  some  part  or  parts  of  the  brain.  Certainly 
this  is  true,  that  there  must  be  cerebral  action  in  con- 
nection with  these  mental  activities  or  we  should  not  be 
conscious  of  them ;  and  while  the  brain  centers  which 
have  to  do  particularly  with  such  phenomena  have  not 
as  yet  been  definitely  localized,  the  presumption  is  all  in 
favor  of  their  existence.  Just  as  the  atom  and  the 
electron  have  never  yet  been  seen  by  human  eye,  but 
their  reality  can  nevertheless  be  safely  predicated ;  so 
the  fact  of  the  control  of  all  mental  expression  by  cer- 
tain parts  of  the  brain,  all  in  due  order,  may,  with  equal 
saneness,  be  at  least  inferred. 

Anyhow,  I  am  so  well  convinced  of  the  probability 
of  the  truth  of  this  theory  that  I  have  based  a  mental 
hypothesis  upon  it;  and  the  more  generally  I  have 
observed  the  phenomena  that  this  supposition  is  set  to 
explain,  the  more  I  am  convinced  that  my  position  is 
solid  and  sound. 

Now,  with  this  theory  as  a  basis,  namely,  that  the 
ability  to  function  mentally  is  largely  determined  by 
bodily  conditions,  in  particular  those  that  the  thinker 
has  been  born  with,  it  follows,  first,  that  we  have  no  use 
for  the  word  "  feeble-minded."  It  is  a  misnomer.  Mind 
is  never  feeble;  but  bodies  are  poor,  or  half  made  up, 
or  sometimes  almost  altogether  bad.  The  word  "  idiot " 
is  a  good  word,  in  its  original  sense.  It  is  the  Greek 
word  for  "peculiar";  and,  as  primarily  applied  to  a 
human  being,  meant  a  peculiar  person,  and  that  was  all. 
And  the  fact  is,  we  are  all  more  or  less  —  peculiar. 

It  seems  to  me  this  way :  The  ego,  the  ultimate  self 
in  each  one  of  us  —  in  you,  whoever  you  are,  in  me,  in 
any  and  all,  I  leave  out  none  —  this  ego  is  absolutely 
limitless.     I  believe  that  in  you,  whoever   you  are,  in 


SOME  CASES  IN  POINT  51 

your  ultimate  self,  there  are  limitless  powers  and  abili- 
ties, latent  but  none  the  less  real,  ready  and  waiting  to 
express  themselves,  if  only  the  bodily  organs  are  suffi- 
ciently perfect  to  permit  of  their  functioning  through 
them.     But  — 

While  all  these  qualities  and  powers  are  resident  in 
every  human  mind  and  are  a  part  of  it,  yet  it  by  no 
means  follows  that  they  can  all  be  expressed  by  each 
and  every  individual  who  possesses  them.  On  the 
contrary,  only  such  of  them  can  find  expression,  in  any 
given  individual,  as  the  brain,  the  nervous  organism, 
and  the  other  physical  apparatus  render  possible  in 
that  particular  person.  There  is  the  sum  and  substance 
of  the  whole  issue,  to  the  utmost  limit. 

Because,  you  see,  whatever  may  be  true  regarding 
the  freedom  of  the  abstract,  or  the  ultimate  human 
mind,  this  is  certain  and  sure :  That,  conditioned  in  the 
human  body,  that  mind  is  limited  in  its  expression  by  the 
body  in  which  it  lives.  It  can  only  function  in  such 
mental  planes  as  the  physical  organs  through  which  it 
must  act  render  possible.  Drive  a  good  stake  there, 
and  you  can  safely  tie  to  it,  I  am  very  sure. 

If  you  have  no  eyes,  you  cannot  see.  But  the  ability 
to  see,  if  you  had  eyes  —  that  is  an  inherent  power  that 
you  possess,  and  that  you  cannot  be  robbed  of.  If  you 
cannot  see,  the  fault  lies  in  your  body.  At  least,  that  is 
the  way  it  seems  to  me. 

Take  the  case  of  the  girl  mentioned,  who  was  born 
blind.  For  the  first  few  years  of  her  life  she  was  wholly 
unable  to  see,  not  because  she  was  not  possessed  of  the 
innate  ability  to  see,  but  because  the  physical  organ  of 
sight  was  imperfect  in  her  case.  A  skillful  physician 
remedied  this  defect,  and  just  as  soon  as  her  eye  was 


52  ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

made  single,  her  whole  body  was  made  full  of  light. 
Does  it  not  seem  clear,  in  this  case  at  least,  that  she 
had  the  ability  to  see,  from  the  first,  and  that  the  only 
reason  why  she  could  not  exercise  that  ability  was  be- 
cause an  imperfection  in  her  body  interposed  a  barrier 
which  this  ability  could  not  pass  ? 

In  further  considering  this  phase  of  my  theory  I  shall 
not  confine  myself  to  "born  so"  cases,  but  shall  extend 
my  observations  to  the  variations  in  mental  phenomena 
and  inability  to  function  mentally  that  appear  when 
bodily  changes  come  to,  or  are  made  in,  adults.  All 
these  cases  are  germane,  in  that  they  all  tend  to  establish 
the  truth  of  my  main  contention,  that  "  these  things  are 
in  the  body."  This  is  my  reason  for  extending  the 
field  of  my  observations  into  the  adult  realm. 

Thus,  to  begin  at  home,  as  I  sit  here  writing  I  have 
a  pair  of  glasses  astride  my  nose.  I  have  to  have  them, 
or  I  cannot  see  the  marks  I  make  on  the  paper  under 
my  hand.  But  now,  why  is  it  that  I  cannot  see  without 
the  glasses,  and  can  see  with  them  ?  Have  I  myself,  in 
my  inmost  essential  being  —  have  I  lost  the  ability  to 
see  when  these  glasses  are  in  their  case }  Not  at  all. 
I  have  as  much  ability  to  see  now  as  I  ever  had,  prob- 
ably more.  But  these  eyes  of  mine  have  been  so  much 
used  that  they  are  getting  worn  out  and  have  to  be 
repaired,  artificially  reenforced,  or  I  cannot  see.  The 
trouble  is  in  my  eyes,  not  in  me  at  all.  And  so  it  is 
wrong  to  say  I  can  no  longer  see  well.  That  is  not  the 
way  to  put  it.  I  should  say  that  my  eyes  have  so 
changed  that  I  can  no  longer  use  them,  that  I  cannot 
function  through  them,  that  they  fail  to  convey  to  me 
true  sensations  of  what  they  once  correctly  reported.  It 
is  a  physical  organ,  and  not  a  mental  lack,  that  is  at  fault. 


SOME  CASES  IN  POINT  53 

And  sometimes  eyes  are,  from  the  first,  much  worse 
than  mine  are  now.  Sometimes  they  are  altogether 
wanting.  But  the  ability  to  use  eyes,  when  they  and 
their  physical  belongings  are  all  present  and  in  good 
working  order,  is  never  wanting  in  a  human  being. 

You  take  down  the  receiver  of  the  telephone  some 
morning  and  put  it  to  your  ear,  and  you  get  no  response. 
What  is  wrong  ?  Has  electricity  ceased  to  be,  and  has 
magnetism  lost  the  power  of  attraction  ?  Not  at  all. 
These  forces  are  as  potent  as  they  ever  have  been,  or  as 
they  ever  will  be ;  but  there  is  something  wrong  with 
the  instrument  through  which  they  are  set  to  work,  in 
this  given  case.  There  is  a  bad  connection  —  a  break, 
a  crossed  wire  somewhere.  The  current  cannot  function 
through  the  medium  as  at  present  adjusted.  That  is 
all.  Put  the  instrument  right,  and  your  telephone  will 
work  as  perfectly  as  ever  again. 

So  in  a  case  of  adult  insanity.  Here  is  a  person  who 
has  been  rational  for  years,  but  one  day  he  becomes 
insane.  What  is  the  matter  ?  Is  there  anything  wrong 
with  his  mind  ?  Not  at  all.  The  man  himself,  the  es- 
sential mind  of  the  man,  is  all  right ;  but  something  has 
happened  to  the  body  through  which  the  man  has  to 
make  himself  manifest.  The  nervous  wires  are  crossed 
somewhere,  or  a  brain  connection  is  broken,  and  the 
mind  force  can  no  longer  come  through.  If  these 
breaks  could  be  mended,  the  man  would  be  sane  again; 
he  would  "  come  to  himself  "  once  more. 

To  any  one  who  has  studied  the  phenomena  of  in- 
sanity, it  seems  to  me  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  this 
malady  is  seated  wholly  in  the  body.  I  knew  a  woman 
who  was  hopelessly  insane  for  twelve  years.  At  the 
birth  of  her  second  child  she  had  puerperal  fever,  and 


54  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

this  resulted  in  insanity.  For  twelve  years  she  was  in 
an  asylum,  and  for  a  considerable  portion  of  that  time 
she  was  a  raving  maniac.  By  a  change  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  hospital  a  new  physician  was  placed  in 
charge  of  her  case,  and  his  diagnosis  was  to  the  effect 
that  her  trouble  all  lay  in  some  abnormal  condition  of 
the  reproductive  organs.  Pursuant  to  this  theory,  he 
caused  the  patient  to  be  submitted  to  a  surgical  opera- 
tion, out  of  which  she  came  sane,  and  she  has  remained 
sane  ever  since,  a  period  of  some  fifteen  years. 

Can  anything  be  clearer  than  that,  in  this  case,  the 
whole  trouble  was  seated  in  the  body .''  Here  was  a 
woman  who  had  been  sane,  who  had  a  "  brilliant  mind," 
as  the  phrase  goes,  and  who  had  been  able  to  use  it 
satisfactorily  till  she  was  twenty-five  years  old.  Then 
she  became  insane,  and  for  twelve  years  she  was  wholly 
unable  to  use  her  mind  in  any  normal  way.  Then  came 
a  bodily  change,  caused  by  a  surgeon's  knife.  As  soon 
as  the  woman  came  out  from  under  the  influence  of 
the  chloroform  which  rendered  her  unconscious  during 
the  operation,  she  was  as  sane  as  she  ever  was.  Do 
you  think  a  case  like  this  proves  nothing  ?  It  seems  to 
me  it  proves  something.  At  least  it  is  wonderfully  sug- 
gestive, so  far  as  my  theory  is  concerned. 

Of  course  this  case  just  quoted  is  by  no  means  an 
isolated  one,  as  all  who  are  familiar  with  the  subject  are 
well  aware.  I  must  not  dwell  on  this  phase  of  the 
subject  too  long,  but  I  must  push  it  a  little  further. 

There  lies  before  me  an  essay  on  this  exceedingly 
suggestive  theme,  prepared  by  the  late  Dr.  R.  M.  Bucke, 
who  was  for  years  in  charge  of  the  Insane  Asylum  at 
London,  Ontario,  Canada.  This  essay  is  entitled,  "  Re- 
sults of  Two  Hundred  Surgical  Operations  on  Insane 


SOME  CASES  IN  POINT  55 

Women."  It  was  originally  published  in  the  Medical 
News  for  August,  1900.  Dr.  Bucke  was  one  of  the 
pioneers  in  physiological  psychology,  as  especially  re- 
lated to  insanity,  and  his  essay  is  a  wonderful  record  of 
his  achievements  in  that  line.  I  cannot  give  even  a 
resumd  of  the  essay  here,  but  I  commend  it  to  any  and 
all  who  are  interested  in  that  subject.  In  brief,  he  tells, 
in  this  essay,  how  eighty-three  out  of  these  two  hun- 
dred women  recovered  from  their  insanity  after  under- 
going a  surgical  operation  at  his  hands.  Is  not  that 
something  in  point  .^  Do  not  facts  like  these  lead  us  at 
least  very  strongly  to  surmise  that  what  we  have  been 
accustomed  to  call  mental  troubles  are,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  really  caused  by  bodily  ills }  Do  they  not  tend  to 
prove  that  it  is  a  bad  condition  of  the  instrument,  and 
not  the  musician's  fault,  that  there  are  discords  [in  the 
musical  world } 

Another  very  significant  fact  brought  out  by  Dr. 
Bucke's  essay  is  this :  that  where  the  trouble  lay  in  the 
diseased  condition  of  some  exceedingly  vital  and  highly 
sensitive  organ,  which  was  intimately  associated  with 
the  mental  and  spiritual  Hfe  of  the  patient,  and  this  ill 
could  be  remedied,  then,  in  such  case,  the  chances  of 
recovery  of  sanity  were  much  greater  than  when  some 
grosser,  less  vital,  and  less  sensitive  organ  was  involved. 
That  is  to  say,  if  the  trouble  in  a  piano  lies  in  a  string, 
or  key,  and  these  can  be  put  right,  the  chances  of  get- 
ting good  music  from  the  instrument  because  of  such 
rectification  are  much  greater  than  they  would  be  if  the 
source  of  the  evil  was  located  in  some  grosser  part  of 
the  combination,  and  this  should  be  more  or  less  suc- 
cessfully repaired.  The  analogy  may  not  be  perfect, 
but  it  is  at  least  suggestive. 


56  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

And  this  last  stated  fact  from  Dr.  Bucke's  essay  leads 
me  to  conclude  that  the  more  highly  sensitive  the  bodily 
organ  may  be  whose  abnormal  condition  causes  insanity, 
in  any  given  case,  the  greater  the  probability  of  recovery 
if  the  organ  can  be  put  right.  All  of  which  means  that 
if  surgery  of  the  brain  and  higher  nervous  system  can 
be  wrought  out  as  successfully  as  this  same  art  has 
been  developed  in  dealing  with  other  parts  of  the  body, 
much  may  be  hoped  for  in  the  recovery  of  insane  people, 
from  this  source.  Indeed,  great  strides  have  already 
been  made  in  this  same  direction,  as  there  is  ample  tes- 
timony to  prove.  It  is  but  recently  that  a  case  of  in- 
sane jealousy  that  ran  to  the  extreme  of  attempted 
murder  was  entirely  cured  by  the  removal  of  a  tumor 
that  was  pressing  upon  the  brain  of  the  patient.  There 
are  many  other  cases  on  record,  of  a  similar  nature, 
where  some  brain  trouble  has  been  set  right,  and  the 
patient  who  was  insane  was  thereby  restored  to  sanity. 
This  field  is  comparatively  new,  as  yet,  but  it  is  exceed- 
ingly interesting  and  suggestive,  and  the  discoveries 
thus  far  made  all  tend  to  establish  the  truth  of  the 
theory  that  insanity  is  primarily  caused  by  bad  bodily 
conditions,  rather  than  by  direct  trouble  in  the  mind 
itself. 

This  is  not  an  essay  on  insanity,  but  I  bring  this 
phase  of  the  subject  in,  just  here,  because  it  seems  to 
me  to  point  directly  towards  the  truth  of  the  theory 
that  the  varied  expressions  of  individuality  in  humanity 
arise  from  bodily  conditions;  that  the  inharmonious 
conditions  of  human  life  result  from  imperfect  instru- 
ments, rather  than  from  mental  disturbance,  as  such. 
The  case  is  not  yet  fully  proved,  but  there  are  a  great 
many  things  that  point  towards  such  conclusion.    These 


SOME  CASES  IN  POINT 


57 


adult  cases  cited  all  tend  to  prove  that  my  theory  holds 
good  in  congenital  cases  as  well.  All  the  difference 
is  that  in  one  set  of  cases  the  hampering  bodily  condi- 
tions came  before  birth,  in  the  other  after  that  event. 
The  cause  is  the  same  always. 


CHAPTER   VII 

UNDER  THE   THRESHOLD 

The  Subliminal  Self — Origin  of  the  Theory  and  Name  —  Myers' 
"  Human  Pei"sonality  "  —  The  Ability  to  "  come  through  "  —  Cases 
reviewed  from  this  Standpoint  —  What  are  the  Conditions  of 
Genius  —  Conditions  of  Idiocy  —  "A  Fool  for  a  Player  "  —  Idiots 
All  Bad-bodied  —  All  can  "come  through"  on  Some  Lines  — 
Cranks  —  Definition  of  Genius  —  Geniuses  Poor  Teachers  —  Ulti- 
mate Mentality  vs.  Ability  to  Function  Mentally. 

This  may  be  getting  into  pretty  deep  water  for  the 
lay  reader,  but  I  am  going  a  little  farther  along  the 
way  I  have  been  traveling  for  the  last  two  chapters,  at  a 
venture. 

The  late  Dr.  F.  W.  H.  Myers,  of  London,  England, 
who  was  for  years  a  leader  among  the  mental  philoso- 
phers and  psychologists  of  Europe,  gave  to  the  world 
the  phrase  **  the  subliminal  self,"  which,  being  inter- 
preted, means  the  self  that  is  under  the  threshold,  or 
below  the  plane  of  one's  normal  consciousness.  His 
idea  was  that  there  is  a  great  part  of  one's  real  self  that 
never,  or,  at  best,  but  seldom,  or  in  spots,  as  it  were, 
ever  rises  into  the  realm  of  our  conscious  being.  He 
made  a  special  study  of  what  he  held  to  be  this  veritable 
part  of  every  man's  mental  make-up,  as  it  manifests  it- 
self in  dreams,  visions,  hypnotic  phenomena,  trance  con- 
ditions, and  the  like.  The  theory  he  promulgated  has 
since  been  largely  exploited  in  the  line  of  suggestive 
therapeutics  and  mental  healing.  I  wish  to  direct  atten- 
tion to  it  in  some  other  realms  of  human  life,  especially 

58 


UNDER  THE  THRESHOLD  59 

such  as  have  to  do  with  the  subject  I  have  in  hand, 
namely,  education. 

Dr.  Myers'  idea  was  that  all  these  mental  phenomena 
are  produced  by  an  up-rush,  so  to  speak,  of  the  sub- 
liminal self,  which,  for  good  and  sufficient  reasons, 
that  cannot  be  stated  here  for  lack  of  space,  rises  into 
the  realm  of  normal  consciousness.  Once  in  that  plane, 
sometimes  we  can  cut  under  what  has  appeared  from 
below,  and  so  retain  in  the  normal  memory  a  record  of 
what  has  come  to  us  in  this  way.  Thus,  according  to 
this  theory,  a  dream  is  only  the  working  out  of  the  part 
of  one's  self  that  is  usually  below  the  threshold  of 
normal  consciousness,  but  that,  for  the  time  being,  wells 
up  above  that  line. 

We  are  more  or  less  conscious  of  what  this  part  of  our- 
selves does,  in  any  given  case,  in  proportion  as  we  have 
more  or  less  definite  recognition  of  any  particular  dream. 
Sometimes  this  up-rush  is  so  pronounced  that  it  leaves 
a  strong  impression  upon  the  consciousness,  so  strong 
that  it  will  remain  in  the  memory,  and  in  such  cases  we 
can  tell,  on  waking,  what  our  dream  was.  But  if  the 
issue  from  below  is  less  strong,  we  only  remember  that 
we  have  dreamed.  His  theory  is  exceedingly  interest- 
ing, and  he  has  recorded  great  numbers  of  instances  to 
substantiate  his  position.  If  you  are  interested  in  this 
sort  of  thing,  get  and  read  his  great  work  on  "  Human 
Personality." 

Now  it  seems  to  me  that,  in  large  degree,  this  theory 
of  Dr.  Myers'  makes  for  the  hypothesis  I  have  espoused. 
In  any  event,  it  has  led  me  to  make  some  educational 
speculations.  And  here  is  the  possibility  that  has  sug- 
gested itself  to  me :  — 

Experience  leads  me  to  believe  that  it  is  highly  prob- 


6o  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

able,  to  say  the  least,  that  this  subliminal  conscious- 
ness of  ours,  which  Dr.  Myers  holds  to  be  by  far  the 
greater  part  of  our  ultimate  selves,  of  everybody's  ulti- 
mate self,  exists  in  measureless  supply  in  each  one  of 
us;  and  that  it  is  unceasingly  striving  for  expression  in 
time  and  space  through  the  medium  of  the  body  —  "the 
round  of  flesh  that  walls  us  in,"  as  Browning  has  it. 
Here,  in  a  given  case,  it  acts  upon  a  mechanism  of  the 
body  that  is  suited  to  its  needs,  and  so  can  come 
through.  There,  in  the  same  body,  it  comes  up  against 
an  impassable  barrier,  in  the  shape  of  an  imperfect  or 
altogether  wanting  physical  organism,  and  so  has  no 
means  of  making  itself  manifest.  This  occurs  to  me  as 
being  at  least  possible  (and  I  think  a  good  deal  more 
than  that),  and  for  some  years  I  have  been  observing 
mental  phenomena  and  trying  to  make  out  how  nearly 
this  theory  will  account  for  them.  And  the  more  I 
observe  and  ponder,  the  more  I  am  inclined  to  believe 
that  this  theory  is  headed  in  the  right  direction. 

For  instance,  to  recur  again  to  the  case  of  the  girl  who 
was  born  blind.  This  child  had,  from  the  first,  the 
innate  ability  to  see,  this  being  a  constituent  part  of  her 
essential  self.  But  as  that  power  strove  to  exercise 
itself,  through  her  body,  as  it  was  at  her  birth,  it  came  up 
against  an  impassable  barrier  in  the  shape  of  imperfect 
eye  nerves.  The  result  was  that  that  part  of  herself 
which  would  normally  gain  expression  through  sight 
was  made  of  none  effect,  and  was,  as  it  were,  blotted 
out  of  existence.  This  case  is  a  very  simple  one,  but  it 
stands  for  a  great  deal. 

This  same  theory  holds  good  in  the  cases  of  insanity 
that  I  have  noted.  The  fact  seems  to  be  that  these 
people  were  no  longer  able  to  "come  through,"  because 


UNDER  THE  THRESHOLD  6l 

of  some  physical  imperfection  in  their  bodies  that  their 
minds  could  not  overcome.  It  also  accounts  for  such 
phenomena  as  Robert  Gardenhire  exhibited.  In  his 
case,  the  physical  organism  that  has  to  do  with  the 
expression  of  the  mathematical  part  of  himself  is  prob- 
ably in  a  most  perfect  condition ;  and  so,  on  that  side, 
his  subliminal  mathematical  self  can  come  through 
without  let  or  hindrance.  In  the  case  of  Charles 
Sumner,  the  probabilities  are  that  this  condition  was 
reversed,  and  the  result  was  that  he  was  able  to  func- 
tion but  very  little  on  the  mathematical  side,  though  it 
would  seem,  to  the  ordinary  observer,  that  he  had  as 
much — yes,  far  more — innate  mathematical  abiHty  than 
had  this  unlettered  negro.  Does  it  not  look  that  way  ? 
I  believe  that  the  fact  was  that  Mr.  Sumner's  brain  was 
faulty  in  the  part  that  has  to  do  with  mathematical  ex- 
pression, and  so  he  could  not  come  through  there,  to 
any  considerable  degree.  He  was  "  born  short"  there; 
he  was  born  wonderfully  "long"  in  other  ways. 

The  question  is  often  asked.  What  are  the  conditions  of 
genius }  According  to  this  theory,  we  will  always  have 
a  genius  whenever,  in  a  given  case,  the  brain  and  the 
nervous  organism  in  the  individual  are  so  perfect,  on 
special  lines,  that  the  infiniteness  of  the  mind,  on  these 
lines,  can  express  itself  fully  through  the  media  fur- 
nished. In  these  cases  there  is  no  hindrance  whatever 
to  the  complete  expression  of  certain  parts  of  the  sub- 
liminal self  through  the  physical  make-up  of  the  individ- 
ual body  in  which  that  particular  ego  is  conditioned.  It 
goes  without  saying  that  absolutely  perfect  illustrations 
of  this  condition  are  very  rare,  but  most  wonderful  ones 
will  readily  come  to  mind.  Mr.  Edison  is  a  most  re- 
markable example,  a  marvelous  one,  in  his  particular 


62  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

lines  of  mental  functioning.  The  list  might  be  extended 
to  great  length,  and  in  great  variety,  and  I  believe  the 
theory  would  hold  good  in  every  case. 

Turn  now  to  the  other  side  of  the  picture,  to  those 
people  who  are  the  very  reverse  of  geniuses,  and  whom 
we  call  idiots.  The  theory  holds  equally  well  with 
them.  These  people  are  all  faulty  in  body,  every  one 
of  them  ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  if  their  peculiar  phys- 
ical faults  and  weaknesses  could  be  traced  closely  and 
definitely  enough,  it  would  be  found  that  they  were  all 
of  such  nature  as  to  prevent  certain  functionings  of  the 
mind.  It  is  their  bad  bodies  and  not  their  alleged  feeble 
minds  that  cause  their  inability  to  express  their  real 
selves  to  any  greater  extent. 

I  will  say  more  about  this  later,  but  right  here  I  want 
to  answer  the  question  proposed,  some  pages  back,  in 
which  I  was  asked  to  turn  my  piano  figure  around,  and 
tell  what  would  happen  if  we  had  a  good  instrument, 
but  a  fool  for  a  player.  Discord  and  bad  music  would 
result,  in  the  case  of  such  a  piano  and  such  a  player, 
surely.  But,  so  far  as  humanity  is  concerned,  no  such 
condition  has  ever  arisen  or  ever  can  arise.  I  challenge 
the  whole  world  to  disprove  that  statement. 

No  one  ever  saw  an  idiot  who  had  a  normally  con- 
structed body !  In  all  these  cases,  the  instrument  is 
bad,  and  where  it  is  bad,  bad  mental  functioning  results. 
On  the  other  hand,  not  infrequently,  and  in  many  ways, 
there  are  not  wanting  pronounced  signs  that  the  player 
is  very  far  from  being  a  fool.  Here  and  there,  there  is 
a  good  string,  and  on  such  the  musician  can  play.  But 
so  many  parts  of  the  instrument  may  be  out  of  repair 
or  altogether  wanting  that  but  little  music  can  be 
made.     But  that  the  player  can  produce  harmony  at 


UNDER  THE  THRESHOLD  63. 

all  shows  that  it  is  the  instrument  and  not  he  that  is  at 
fault. 

For  instance,  take  the  case  of  the  idiot  girl  who  could 
do  such  marvelous  work  in  making  lace  with  a  crochet 
hook.  Does  this  ability  on  her  part  suggest  a  weak 
mind  ?  —  a  fool  for  a  player  ?  Not  one  woman  in  a  mil- 
lion could  ever  learn,  with  the  help  of  the  best  teaching, 
to  do  what  this  girl  did,  with  perfect  ease,  without  any 
instruction  whatever.  She  was  an  idiot  on  some  lines. 
She  was  a  genius  in  one  way.  She  was  a  wonderful 
player  where  her  instrument  was  perfect  enough  to  per- 
mit her  to  come  through.  She  was  terribly  hedged  in 
at  nearly  every  other  point  of  her  being  —  points  on 
which  most  people  can  come  through  with  at  least 
so  much  success  that  they  are  not  particularly  notice- 
able among  the  general  run  of  humanity. 

And  what  is  true  of  this  girl  is  true  of  the  majority 
of  idiotic  people.  In  almost  every  case,  there  will  be 
found  some  expression  of  mental  functioning  which  goes 
to  prove  that  there  is  no  lack  of  mental  ability,  in  one 
or  more  directions.  Did  you  ever  know  of  such  a  case 
where  it  was  not  often  said  of  the  afflicted  one,  "  Oh, 
he's  sharp  enough,  in  some  ways  ?  "  That  is  the  whole 
story.  These  people  are  not  feeble-minded.  They  are 
bad-bodied.  This  girl  who  could  make  lace  had  a  queer- 
shaped  head,  and  every  idiot  has  a  bad  body,  somewhere. 

Of  course  there  are  cases  of  this  kind  where  there  is 
almost  no  expression  of  mentality  whatever,  and  in  these 
cases  the  bodies  are  always  bad  in  the  extreme,  espe- 
cially on  the  brain  and  nervous-system  sides.  These 
very  bad  bodies  almost  completely  cut  the  mind  off  from 
any  possibility  of  expressing  itself ;  and  hence  we  have, 
in  rare  cases,  complete  idiocy.     But  I  believe  that  even 


64  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

these  cases  are  all  caused  by  imperfect  bodies,  and  not 
by  feeble  minds. 

And  what  is  true  of  the  bodily  condition  of  idiots  is 
very  largely  true  concerning  geniuses.  Such  people  are 
always  "  peculiar  looking."  If  their  genius  takes  an 
outr6  form,  so  much  so  that  they  are  called  "  cranks," 
you  will  nearly  always  find  them  very  peculiar-looking 
persons,  a  fact  which  points  towards  the  correctness  of 
the  theory  that  I  am  trying  to  show  the  reasonable- 
ness of. 

As  I  have  already  remarked,  it  is  sometimes  said  that 
genius  is  merely  an  appetite  for  hard  work.  The  state- 
ment will  not  hold.  It  does  not  tally  with  the  basic 
facts  in  the  case.  Any  attainment  that  is  gained  by 
such  a  method  is  very  far  from  being  genius,  in  the  true 
sense  of  that  word.  Some  of  the  results  reached  in  this 
way  may  resemble  those  of  genius,  but  the  process  of 
their  realization  is  a  different  thing  entirely  from  the 
ways  of  genius  itself. 

Genius  knows  its  own  without  direction,  in  and  of 
itself ;  and  it  has  ways  of  arriving  at  its  destination  that 
the  common  lot  of  us  know  little  or  nothing  about,  and 
of  which  the  genius  himself  can  give  no  account.  Zerah 
Colburn  could  not  tell  to  any  one  how  he  arrived  at  the 
wonderful  mathematical  results  which  he  obtained  with- 
out effort,  nor  could  Blind  Tom  explain  how  it  was  that 
he  could  reproduce  a  piano  selection,  half  an  hour  long, 
after  hearing  it  once  played  through.  All  that  can  be 
said  is,  that  these  people  were  both  "born  long,"  each 
in  his  own  particular  way.  They  were  both  true  geniuses, 
of  the  genuine  sort ;  and  I  believe  it  to  be  a  fact  that 
the  reason  they  could  do  as  they  did  was,  not  because 
they  were  mentally  stronger  than  the  rest  of  us,  but  be- 


UNDER  THE  THRESHOLD  65 

cause  their  brain  and  nervous  organisms  were  so  perfect 
on  the  lines  in  which  they  gave  their  special  expressions 
of  power  that  there  they  could  come  through  without 
a  halt. 

The  best  definition  of  genius  that  I  ever  came  across 
is  this:  "Genius  is  the  unconscious  wisdom  of  people 
who  are  otherwise  ignorant."  To  me  that  states  the 
whole  case,  perfectly.  When  genius,  the  real  thing, 
shows  itself  in  an  individual,  the  most  we  can  say  about 
it  is  that  "  that  is  the  way  he  is."  And  that  the  bodily 
machinery  through  which  such  remarkable  abilities  ex- 
press themselves  determines  the  extent,  or  the  limita- 
tions, of  such  expression  —  of  this  there  seems  to  be 
Httle  doubt. 

(I  can't  help  remarking,  just  here,  because  the  truth 
of  it  is  so  evident  from  what  I  have  just  said,  that  a 
genius,  or  a  person  who  is  "  exceedingly  bright "  in  any 
particular  Hne,  is  always  the  poorest  kind  of  teacher, 
because  he  can  never  tell,  or  explain  to  another,  how 
he  arrives  at  results.  And  to  be  able  to  show  the  way  to 
obtain  correct  results  is  the  very  essence  of  successful 
teaching.  Colburn  could  not  teach  mathematics,  nor 
could  Blind  Tom  teach  music.  I  merely  note  the  fact, 
in  passing,  for  it  is  such  a  good  one  for  teachers  and  for 
people  who  have  to  pick  out  teachers  to  remember,  and 
one  that  is  so  often  believed  to  be  true  in  the  very  re- 
verse order  of  its  actuality.) 

And  so  this  is  my  theory  regarding  geniuses  and 
their  antipodes,  and  all  of  us  who  are  between  these 
two  extremes.  The  way  we  are  does  not  depend  on  our 
ultimate  mentality,  which  is  limitless  in  each  and  all,  but 
on  our  ability  to  function  mentally,  to  get  the  stream  of 
mentality  through  the  medium  it  must  use  if  it  reveals 


66  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

itself  in  time  and  space.  And  the  range  of  this  ability 
is  determined  by  the  more  or  less  perfect  condition 
of  the  bodily  organ  through  which  such  functioning 
alone  can  be  done.  At  least,  this  is  how  "it  seems 
to  me." 


CHAPTER   VIII 

SOME   DARKER   STUDIES 

Widening  the  Field  of  Observation  —  Why  Adult  Cases  are  studied 

—  Their  Bearing  on  the  Issues  involved  —  Mental  Errancy  and 
Crime  related  Phenomena  —  *'  Free  Agency  "  and  Human  Respon- 
sibility —  A  Case  of  Gambling  Mania  —  History  of  the  Case  — 
Insane  Jealousy  rectified  by  Brain  Surgery  —  Criminals  "Herds 
of  Incompetents  "  —  Treatment  of  Criminals  and  the  Insane  — 
Children  and  their  Crimes  —  Smuggling  —  Criminals'  Views  of 
their  Own  Crimes  —  A  Lawyer's  Testimony  —  Jesus's  View  of 
These  —  Relative  Power  to  "  come  through  "  of  Desire  and  Will 

—  Some  Authorities  on  these  Points. 

It  is  curious  how  fast,  how  far,  and  into  what  un- 
looked-for regions  a  theory  once  started  may  lead  one. 
And  so  I  find  myself  just  here  irresistibly  compelled  to 
push  at  least  a  little  way  into  a  realm  that  I  had  not 
thought  of  exploring  when  I  first  set  out.  The  cases  I 
am  about  to  note  are  again  more  of  the  adult  order 
than  of  the  "  born  so  "  variety ;  but  they  are  strongly 
in  point  as  regards  the  main  issue.  Perhaps  they  might 
be  counted  as  acute  or  temporary  instances  of  condi- 
tions that  are  chronic  in  congenital  cases.  My  chief 
reason  for  presenting  them  is  because  they  multiply  and 
intensify  the  proofs  that  "  these  things  are  in  the  body." 
Besides  that,  they  will  have  a  direct  bearing  on  the  main 
issue  of  this  book  when  I  reach  that  part  of  my  story. 

And  so  it  is  that  my  investigations  and  theories  as  to 
what  is  the  truth  regarding  the  real,  basic  causes  of 
genius,  idiocy,  insanity,  and  of   all  similar  variations 

67 


68  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

from  what  we  are  wont  to  consider  as  normality  in 
humanity,  suggest  the  possibility  that  the  same  prin- 
ciples hold  equally  true  regarding  the  causes  of  vice 
and  crime,  as  these  are  manifest  in  mankind.  That 
may  appear,  at  first  sight,  as  a  very  dangerous  doctrine 
to  announce,  but  this  is  riot  an  issue  of  danger,  or  its 
opposite.  The  question  is,  What  is  the  truth  in  the 
premises  ? 

Anent  which,  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  it  is  but  a 
few  years  since  insanity  was  looked  upon  as  a  crime, 
and  insane  men  and  women  were  strapped  to  the  wall 
and  lashed,  as  a  penalty  for  what  was  counted  as  their 
deliberate  wrongdoing. 

We  talk  about  human  responsibility,  man's  "free 
agency,"  and  the  like.  Such  themes  are  worthy  to  be 
considered,  but  —  well,  here  are  some  cases  that  have 
made  me  think  a  great  deal  regarding  such  things.  Read 
them,  and  then  see  what  you  think.  And  be  sure  that 
you  think,  and  that  you  think  for  yourself. 

I  once  had  a  friend  who  served  a  term  in  the  peniten- 
tiary for  embezzlement.  I  make  no  scruple  in  saying 
that  he  was  my  friend,  my  very  dear  friend,  both  be- 
fore and  after  his  incarceration.  In  many  respects  he 
was  one  of  the  best  men  I  ever  knew.  He  was  truly 
generous  and  nobly  self-sacrificing ;  and  he  was  truth- 
ful, and  thoroughly  reliable  in  most  ways.  But  all  the 
time  I  knew  him  he  was  a  gambler.  On  that  side  of 
his  make-up  he  was  not  to  be  trusted  for  an  instant. 
He  would  gamble  on  anything,  anywhere,  at  any  time. 
On  that  point  he  had  no  conscience,  no  prudence,  no  any- 
thing, but  an  uncontrollable  desire  to  try  his  luck  on  the 
game.  He  would  risk  all  he  had  himself,  and  all  that 
anybody  else  had  that  he  could  lay  hands  on,  on  the 


SOME  DARKER  STUDIES  69 

turn  of  a  card  or  a  throw  of  dice.  That  was  how  he  got 
into  the  penitentiary.  He  happened  to  have  a  large 
amount  of  his  employer's  money  in  his  pocket  one  day, 
and  he  risked  it  all,  and  lost.     So  he  was  "sent  up." 

What  about  this  case.?  To  me  the  man  was  insane 
on  that  side  of  his  being.  There,  he  could  not  see 
things  as  they  really  were.  He  had  a  mania  for  taking 
chances.  He  was  as  mad,  on  the  line  of  gambling,  as 
any  patient  in  an  insane  asylum  is  crazy  in  any  other 
direction. 

And  I  believe  this  unfortunate  condition  of  his  was 
seated  in  his  body,  just  as  much  as  is  the  case  in  any 
other  kind  of  insanity.  So  far  as  I  could  learn  his  early 
history,  he  showed  no  sign  of  his  madness  in  his  earlier 
years.  He  was  the  son  of  a  clergyman  who  was  a  man 
of  great  ability  and  of  sterling  worth.  But,  as  a  young 
man,  he  suddenly  began  to  gamble.  It  became  an  un- 
controllable passion  with  him,  and  it  is  not  putting  the 
case  any  too  strongly  to  say  that  he  became  gambling 
mad. 

Well,  you  say,  what  about  it  ?  Was  this  man  not  re- 
sponsible for  what  he  did .-'  Ought  he  not  to  be  punished 
for  his  misdeeds  ?  To  which  I  reply,  most  assuredly  he 
ought  to  be  kept  from  injuring  himself  and  other  people 
by  the  exercise  of  his  mania,  just  as  other  insane  people 
have  to  be  kept  from  injuring  themselves  and  others  by 
reason  of  their  insanity. 

As  things  now  are,  we  "  punish  "  such  as  him ;  we 
brand  them  as  criminals,  we  heap  indignities  upon  them 
and  expect,  by  so  doing,  to  rid  them  of  their  sins.  I 
blame  no  one  for  this ;  but,  to  my  way  of  thinking,  the 
day  is  not  so  very  far  distant  when  we  shall  look  back 
upon  our  present  way  of  treating  crime  and  criminals 


7©  ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

with  as  much  horror  as  we  would  now  shudder  at  strap- 
ping the  insane  to  a  wall  and  lashing  them  till  the 
blood  came. 

I  may  be  wrong  in  this,  but  I  don't  think  I  am. 

Let  me  tell  a  little  more  of  this  friend  of  mine. 
After  he  came  out  of  prison,  he  went  to  work  for  me  (I 
was  in  a  manufacturing  business  then)  and  he  held  his 
place  as  long  as  he  was  able  to  work  at  all.  He  died 
three  years  after  his  term  of  sentence  expired. 

He  was  the  best  salesman  I  ever  knew.  In  three 
years  he  legitimately  earned  more  than  ten  thousand 
dollars,  all  of  which  he  gave  to  a  brother  of  his  who, 
at  my  friend's  request,  acted  as  his  trustee.  That  was 
the  way  he  put  himself  out  of  the  way  of  temptation. 
He  would  never  allow  himself  to  handle  a  cent  of  my 
money.  We  both  knew  it  would  not  be  safe  for  him  to 
do  so.  It  would  have  been  unfair  and  unjust,  both  to 
him  and  to  me,  to  have  him  try  to  do  so.  That  way  his 
weakness,  his  madness  lay;  and  it  would  have  been 
little  short  of  a  crime  should  a  strain  have  been  put  on 
him  where  we  both  knew  he  was  not  strong. 

He  gambled,  off  and  on,  almost  to  the  day  of  his 
death.  Sometimes  months  would  pass,  during  which  he 
would  not  play ;  and  then,  again,  he  would  have  days  of 
gaming.  But  because  he  kept  very  little  money  with 
him,  he  held  his  madness  within  such  bounds  that  — 
well,  he  kept  himself  out  of  prison,  anyhow. 

After  his  death,  an  autopsy  revealed  the  fact  that 
for  years  he  had  suffered  from  a  tumor  on  his  brain ! 
I  may  be  wrong  in  my  surmise,  but  I  am  strongly  in- 
clined to  believe  that  this  physical  disturbance  of  his 
nervous  system  was  the  real  cause  of  his  gambling 
mania.     There  are  many  reasons  that  lead  me  to  this 


SOME  DARKER  STUDIES  71 

conclusion,  but  space  will  not  permit  me  to  state  them 
here.  Similar  cases  have  already  been  noted  by  eminent 
authorities  who  have  made  a  life  study  of  the  psychology 
of  vice  and  crime,  and  new  light  in  this  direction  is 
shining  through  every  day. 

I  recently  read  a  well-authenticated  account  of  a 
bookkeeper  who  suddenly  lost  his  ability  to  add  figures, 
an  art  in  which  he  had  for  years  been  an  expert.  A 
little  later  he  became  insane,  to  such  a  degree  that  he 
was  committed  to  an  asylum.  There,  a  tumor  was  re- 
moved from  his  brain,  and  he  returned  to  his  normal 
condition,  resuming  his  former  position,  where  he  was 
able  to  work  as  well  as  ever. 

Another  case  was  that  of  a  man  who  suddenly  be- 
came brutally  jealous  of  his  wife  without  any  cause  on 
her  part  for  his  being  so.  This  condition  continued  till 
he  tried  to  murder  her,  after  which  his  friends  were 
obliged  to  have  him  taken  to  an  insane  hospital.  There, 
being  relieved  from  an  abnormal  pressure  upon  a  part 
of  his  brain,  caused  by  some  subtle  disease,  his  jealousy 
vanished,  and  he  regained  his  former  condition  of  do- 
mestic happiness  and  love. 

Now  all  this  does  not  mean  that  corps  of  surgeons 
could  start  out  with  saws,  knives,  scissors,  and  scoops, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  so  trim  up  mankind,  within  and 
without,  that  there  would  be  no  more  sin,  misery,  vice, 
and  crime  in  the  world.  But  these  cases,  and  scores  of 
others  that  we  all  know  about,  lead  one  to  think  that,  in 
large  degree,  if  not  altogether,  the  ills  and  crimes  of 
humanity  are  seated  in  the  body,  which  is  my  original 
contention.  And,  if  these  things  are  so,  or  even  so  to 
a  considerable  extent,  they  are  things  for  parents  and 
teachers  to  know  about,  and  to  regulate  their  actions 


72  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

in  accordance  with,  in  attempting  to  educate  all  the 
children  of  all  the  people. 

This  friend  of  whom  I  have  spoken  used  to  talk  to  me 
about  his  prison  experience.  He  was  a  remarkably 
able  and  intelligent  man,  keenly  observant,  and  exceed- 
ingly wise  in  his  conclusions  on  nearly  all  affairs.  And 
he  assured  me  that  a  very  large  percentage  of  the  in- 
mates of  the  prison  he  was  in  were  incapable  of  taking 
care  of  themselves.  "  They  were  simply  a  herd  of  in- 
competents," is  the  way  he  put  it.  I  have  never  for- 
gotten that  phrase.  It  is  a  statement  to  remember  and 
never  to  forget,  as  one  looks  at  children  and  thinks  of 
the  future. 

Can  you  remember  some  act  or  acts  of  yours,  that  you 
did  without  the  least  thought  that  they  were  wrong,  when 
you  were  doing  them,  but  which  acts  were  really  bad, 
perhaps  very  bad  ?  Maybe  you  say  :  "  But  I  was  too 
young  to  know."  Count  it  so.  Then  remember  that 
there  are  many  people  who  are  always  young,  or  who 
never  can  come  through  on  certain  lines.  Call  it  "  arrested 
development,"  or  what  you  will,  the  fact  remains  that 
many  people  do  not,  yes,  cannot,  see  clearly  the  ways  in 
which  they  go  wrong.  It  may  not  be  so  always,  but  it 
is  so  sometimes,  is  it  not  ?  At  least  you  have  found  it  so 
in  your  own  experience,  haven't  you  ?  I  have.  Read 
Stanley  Hall's  book  on  Adolescence  for  cases  on  this 
point. 

I  am  inclined  to  think  that  few  children  have  any  real- 
ization whatever  of  the  enormity  of  their  deeds  when  they 
rob  birds'  nests,  or  pull  the  legs  off  grasshoppers,  or  the 
wings  from  butterflies.  Did  you  ever  pluck  watermelons 
that  you  had  never  planted,  but  which  you  took  by  the 
light  of  the  moon  with  great  delight,  and  which  you  de- 


SOME  DARKER  STUDIES 


73 


voured  without  a  qualm  ?  And  did  you  feel  so  very  bad 
about  it  at  the  time  ?  Have  you  ever  been  abroad  and 
returned  with  trunks  full  of  things  that  were  dutiable, 
and  then  —  did  you  feel  so  very  bad  about  what  you  did  ? 
Did  you  look  the  officer  in  the  eye  as  you  walked  past 
him  with  the  tucks  in  your  skirt  stuffed  full  of  undeclared 
laces  —  as  full  as  they  could  be  and  not  show  ?  And  did 
you  feel  very  bad  about  it,  when,  relying  on  the  steadiness 
of  your  gaze,  that  same  official  passed  you  without  a 
word  ?  Did  you  feel  that  you  had  done  anything  so  very 
wrong,  after  all  this  ?  Who  is  it  that  says,  "  All  women 
are  born  smugglers  "  ? 

But  it  is  a  sin  to  smuggle,  to  deliberately  break  the 
law  of  one's  country.  All  people  who  can  see  clearly 
on  this  side  of  their  being,  who  can  come  through  there, 
know  that  this  is  so.  But  there  are  multitudes  of  peo- 
ple in  this  country,  both  men  and  women,  who  do  not 
see  it,  and  who,  from  the  evidence  in  the  case,  it  would 
seem  cannot  see  it  that  way.  All  of  which  means  that 
there  are  many  persons  in  this  country  who  are  practi- 
cally children,  or  insane,  on  that  side  of  their  lives. 
They  exhibit  well  marked  cases  of  arrested  develop- 
ment, or  insanity,  in  this  part  of  their  make-up.  They 
do  not  deliberately  do  wrong.  Their  failure  is  in  being 
unable  to  realize  that  what  they  do  is  really  wrong. 
They  will  acknowledge  that  they  have  broken  a  law; 
but,  to  them,  it  is  a  law,  and  not  themselves,  that  is 
wrong.  They  are  "short"  in  that  part  of  their  make- 
up. Their  ultimate  moral  sense  cannot  "  come  through  " 
at  these  places.  Their  moral  eyes  are  blind.  They  can- 
not see  things  as  they  are. 

I  believe  that,  as  a  rule,  all  thieves  feel  that  way  about 
their  robberies.     They  know  that  they  break  laws  by 


74  ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

doing  as  they  do ;  but,  to  them,  the  laws  are  wrong,  and 
not  they  themselves.  For  reasons  which  seem  to  them 
sufficient,  they,  at  the  time  of  their  misdeeds,  feel  that 
they  are  only  doing  what  they  have  a  right  to  do,  all 
things  considered.  This,  if  they  think  at  all.  Many 
of  the  worst  cases  cannot  think  clearly  at  all  —  can- 
not "come  through,"  or  function  in  these  mental 
places. 

A  lawyer  who  had  had  an  experience  of  twenty-five  years 
at  the  bar  to  base  his  statement  on  once  told  me  that  he 
had  never  been  called  on  to  defend  a  criminal  who  would 
acknowledge  that  he  was  guilty  of  the  crime  with  which 
he  was  charged,  no  matter  what  that  crime  might  be. 
Such  might  confess  to  having  done  certain  deeds,  but 
they  would  never  acknowledge  that  such  doing  was 
wrong.  They  always  had  some  reason  to  offer  which 
justified  their  action,  allowing  them  to  be  their  own 
judge.  In  the  presence  of  such  testimony,  can  one 
doubt  that  these  people  have  eyes  and  see  not,  that 
there  are  spots  where  they  cannot  "  come  through  "  ? 

Of  course  they  are  wrong  in  all  this,  when  viewed 
from  a  social  standpoint;  and,  being  so,  not  seeing 
things  as  they  are,  they  cannot  be  left  free  to  prey  upon 
their  fellows;  but  their  attitudes  of  mind  should,  of 
right,  be  taken  into  account  in  the  way  society  deals 
with  such  —  in  the  manner  in  which  it  makes  "  the  pen- 
alty fit  the  crime." 

Nor  do  I  think  that  all  these  have  tumor  on  the  brain. 
In  most  cases  the  trouble  goes  further  back  than  that  — 
they  are  born  so.  But  I  do  believe  that,  in  every  case, 
the  trouble  lies,  basically,  in  the  imperfect  bodies  of 
these  wrongdoers  rather  than  elsewhere.  If  the  brain 
and  nervous  organism  of   each  one  of   these  derelicts 


SOME  DARKER  STUDIES 


75 


could  be  made  normal,  there  is  small  doubt  that  their 
actions  would  tally  with  right,  and  not  with  wrong. 

It  is  doubtless  true  that  Jesus  had  such  as  these  in 
mind  when  he  said :  "  Seeing,  they  see  and  do  not  per- 
ceive; hearing,  they  hear  and  do  not  understand." 
How  wonderfully  well  the  Great  Teacher  knew  human- 
ity. Surely,  the  noblest  prayer  that  was  ever  prayed 
came  from  his  lips,  when  he  said,  "  Father,  forgive  them ; 
they  know  not  what  they  do."  The  real  foundation 
trouble  with  us,  and  with  all,  always,  when  we  go  wrong, 
is  that  we  do  not  really  know  what  we  are  doing. 
Therefore,  let  us  be  charitable,  both  to  ourselves  and  to 
our  neighbors,  all  over  the  world.  "For  such  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven." 

When  my  wife  had  read  the  manuscript  of  this  chap- 
ter, she  said  to  me,  "I  think  it  must  be  true  that  when- 
ever the  chance  of  a  desire  to  come  through  is  stronger 
than  the  power  of  the  will  to  keep  it  from  doing  so,  then 
the  individual  becomes  insane!"     I  think  she  is  right. 

Which  leads  me  to  add  that,  as  I  write  these  words, 
there  comes  to  me  the  report  of  the  suicide  of  a  young 
man  who  has  been  my  neighbor  for  years.  He  was  one 
of  the  noblest  men  I  have  ever  known.  He  was  happily 
married.  His  wife  is  a  lovely  woman  and  they  have 
two  beautiful  children.  He  was  in  excellent  financial 
circumstances,  and  was  loved  and  honored  by  all  who 
knew  him,  yet  he  took  his  own  life.  His  mother  died 
by  her  own  hand,  a  few  years  ago.  "  The  taint  is  in  the 
blood,"  we  say.  And  we  say  well.  The  physical  organ- 
ism was,  I  believe,  in  each  of  these  cases,  so  faulty,  on 
certain  lines,  that  the  desire  to  die  came  through  stronger 
than  the  will  to  live.     The  victims  were  insane,  and  so 


76  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

they  did  as  they  did.  At  the  coroner's  inquest  over  the 
death  of  this  young  man,  the  fact  was  disclosed  that  his 
heart-beat  rate  had  always  been  less  than  fifty  to  the 
minute  —  was  so  from  birth.  Truly,  such  fact  is  sig- 
nificant, and  in  line  with  my  theory. 

Surely,  for  teachers  and  parents  who  have  to  deal 
with  children  who  go  wrong,  these  cases,  and  their  likes, 
must  give  us  pause.  For  so  many  of  us  and  ours,  and 
the  rest,  are  wont  to  go  wrong  —  to  have  desire  come 
through  stronger  than  will  comes  through,  to  be  in- 
sane, at  least  in  spots. 

I  am  well  aware  that  I  have  only  skimmed  the  surface 
of  the  vital  themes  touched  upon  in  these  latest  chapters. 
The  literature  that  discusses  them  in  detail  is  very  volu- 
minous ;  but  it  has,  so  far,  reached  only  speciaUsts,  and 
they,  largely,  are  medical  men  and  not  parents  and 
teachers.  But  because  the  mental  and  moral  issues  in- 
volved are  so  closely  linked  to  the  subject  I  am  consid- 
ering, I  have  deemed  it  wise  to  introduce  as  much  of 
this  related  matter  as  I  have  in  these  pages.  No  teacher 
is  thoroughly  equipped  for  first-class  professional  work 
who  is  not  fairly  well  posted  in  this  particular  field  of 
psychological  investigation.  Its  complete  mastery  is, 
of  course,  possible  only  for  the  speciaUst,  the  subject  is 
so  far-reaching.  Thus,  Havelock  Ellis,  in  his  "  Studies 
in  the  Psychology  of  Sex,"  on  which  he  labored  thirty 
years,  quotes  from  more  than  one  thousand  authors, 
ancient  and  modern,  who  have  made  a  more  or  less 
thorough  study  of  this  theme,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that 
there  is  scarce  an  observation  in  all  the  mass  of  testi- 
mony which  these  experts  have  brought  together 
through  the  years  that  is  not  vitally  related  to  the 
problem  we  are  now  considering.     My  presentation  of 


SOME  DARKER  STUDIES  77 

the  subject  is  suggestive  and  not  exhaustive,  especially 
in  these  last  chapters.  If  enough  has  been  said,  how- 
ever, to  set  the  readers  to  thinking,  to  have  aroused  an 
interest  in  the  theme  which  will  lead  to  further  study  of 
the  issues  involved,  I  am  satisfied.  Let  the  experts  tell 
you  the  details  through  their  books  and  essays  which 
are  within  the  reach  of  all  who  care  to  hunt  them  out. 

Read  any  one  of  the  many  —  Stanley  Hall,  Boris 
Sidis,  William  James,  Havelock  Ellis,  or  a  dozen  others  to 
start  on, — and  then  follow  the  trail  they  begin  for  you, 
and  you  will  arrive.  They  all  produce  testimony  that 
is  of  the  highest  value  for  use  by  any  and  all  who  are 
engaged  on  the  problem  of  trying  to  educate  all  the 
children  of  all  the  people. 


CHAPTER    IX 

WHAT   FOLLOWS  ? 

A  New  View  of  Humanity  —  Criminals  not  to  be  left  to  Themselves 
—  Sources  of  Help  towards  Better  Conditions  —  A  Realization  of 
the  Facts  in  Each  Case  —  Check  "Shortages"  by  making  the 
Most  of  "Longages" — Love  the  Chief  Factor  in  Bettering  Con- 
ditions —  Punish  but  not  Kill  —  McKinley's  Assassin  —  "  Criminal 
Classes  "  a  Misnomer  —  Lombroso's  Theories  and  Conclusions  — 
Parents  and  Teachers  should  specially  recognize  these  Facts  — 
Haste  in  forming  Final  Conclusions  regarding  "  Shorts "  and 
"Longs"  to  be  guarded  Against  —  The  Qualities  may  change 
with  Time  —  Dr.  Sperry's  Story  —  The  Case  of  W.  J.  Stillman. 

I  AM  well  aware  that  this  view  of  ourselves  and  of  our 
fellow  men,  of  our  being  "born  long"  or  "born  short," 
here  or  there,  and  of  our  being  twisted  out  of  the 
straight  line  of  right  by  our  bodily  conditions,  which 
may  be  congenital  or  which  may  be  imposed  upon  us  by 
accident  or  disease  —  I  know  very  well  that  this  way  of 
looking  at  humanity  has  not  always  been  foremost  in 
the  minds  of  men,  in  days  gone  by ;  and  that,  for  this 
reason,  very  little  provision  so  far  has  been  made  for 
dealing  with  humanity  on  this  basis. 

I  believe,  though,  that  Jesus  saw  the  truth  in  the 
premises,  and  that  he  treated  mankind  and  womankind 
on  the  basis  of  their  wrong-goings  being  seated  in  the 
body.  If  you  do  not  see  it  that  way,  read  the  story  of 
the  Thief  on  the  Cross,  and  of  the  woman  who  "  was 
taken  in  the  act,"  and  then  see  how  it  seems  to  you. 

But  we  cannot  let  these  people  who  are  blind  and 

78 


WHAT  FOLLOWS?  79 

deaf  to  the  right,  who  are  insane  and  criminal,  go  where 
they  will  and  do  as  they  please.  Surely  not;  for  so 
would  the  blind  lead  the  blind,  and  all  would  fall  into 
the  ditch.  There  are  such  things  as  right  and  wrong, 
and  let  none  ever  forget  or  disregard  the  fact. 

Truth  is  eternal,  and  it  never  swerves. 

And  right  and  truth  must  be  taken  into  account  in  all 
righteous  Uving.  For  righteous  living  is  what  all  the 
experiences  of  life  are  for.  The  question  is  :  How  can 
these  people  who  are  "  born  short "  in  one  way  or  an- 
other, or  who  are  idiotic,  or  insane,  or  vicious,  or  crimi- 
nal because  of  disease,  or  accident,  or  physical  harm  of 
any  kind  —  how  can  these  people  who  are  out  of  the  line 
of  righteousness  —  how  can  such  be  brought  into  line 
and  led  to  tally  with  right  and  truth  ?  That  is  the  chief 
question  of  all  time.  To  help  solve  this  question  Christ 
gave  his  life,  and  it  is  only  by  the  giving  of  life  that  you, 
or  I,  or  anybody,  can  in  any  way  help  on  its  solution. 
That  is  the  first  thing  to  remember. 

But  it  will  help  us  all,  oh  so  much,  if  we,  first  of  all, 
realize  the  situation;  if  we  have  a  realizing  sense  of 
things  as  they  are,  and  especially  if  we  keep  in  mind  the 
way  we  are  ourselves,  and  by  the  same  token  the  way 
our  brothers  and  sisters,  and  especially  our  children,  are 
also.  That  is  the  true  beginning  point.  Without  such 
a  basis  to  start  on,  such  a  foundation  under  our  feet, 
there  can  be  no  progress  in  the  work  undertaken. 

And  so  I  believe  that  the  first  thing  for  us  all  to  do  is, 
to  try  to  bring  ourselves  to  a  clear  and  full  understanding 
of  the  fact  that  we  are  all  of  us  "  born  long  "  on  some 
lines  and  "  short "  on  some  other  lines,  or  that  we  have 
been  rendered  short  by  accident  or  disease ;  and  that 
our   possibilities  of   mental   functioning   and   resultant 


8o  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

doing,  in  one  direction  or  another,  are  in  very  large 
measure  determined  by  our  bodily  excellences  or  in- 
firmities ;  and,  further,  that  the  greatest  good  will  come 
to  each  and  every  one  of  us  by  permitting  us  to  move 
out  strongly  on  the  lines  of  our  natural  abilities  —  our 
"  longages  "  —  when  these  are  on  the  line  of  right ;  and, 
beyond  this,  where  we  are  weak,  or  short,  or  idiotic,  or 
insane,  or  criminal,  all  that  can  be  done  should  be  done 
to  help  us  to  overcome  our  infirmities  and  difficulties,  and 
to  bring  us  into  line  with  right  and  truth,  all  these  things 
being  taken  into  the  account. 

But,  to  do  this  last,  let  us  never  be  held  back  where 
we  are  naturally  and  righteously  long  and  strong,  in  an 
effort  to  make  us  "  symmetrical,"  that  is,  equally  long 
and  strong  everywhere  else.  That  is  the  whole  issue. 
There  is  where  we  have  all  gone  wrong,  time  and  time 
again,  in  our  treatment  of  ourselves  and  of  those  with 
whom  we  have  had  to  do,  especially  the  children.  There 
is  where  our  public  schools  have  sinned  terribly.  There 
is  where  they  must  stop  sinning,  if  they  ever  educate  all 
the  children  of  all  the  people. 

What,  then,  shall  we  do  with  these  shorts,  these  idiots, 
these  insane,  these  vicious  ones,  these  criminals  ?  Well, 
we  shall  do  the  best  we  can  with  them  and  for  them, 
things  being  as  they  are.  But,  first  of  all,  we  shall  love 
them,  every  one,  "  not  with  allowance,  but  with  genuine 
love  "  ;  and  we  shall  despise  none  of  them,  not  even  the 
meanest  and  lowest.  That  is,  we  shall  almost  entirely 
change  our  mental  attitude  towards  any  and  all  such 
people. 

Things  being  as  they  are,  we  shall  have  to  "  punish  " 
many  of  them,  especially  those  who  exhibit  the  most 
pronounced   cases  of   waywardness,  for  a   good  while 


WHAT  FOLLOWS?  8l 

yet;  we  shall  have  to  shut  a  good  many  of  them  up, 
and  keep  them  where  they  cannot  harm  themselves  or 
others.  I  do  not  believe  we  shall  always  "  punish  "  in 
many  of  the  ways  we  now  use,  and  we  ought  never  to 
kill  any  of  them. 

(It  brought  my  heart  into  my  throat  when  I  read 
the  last  words  of  President  McKinley's  assassin:  "I 
thought  what  I  did  would  help  the  poor  people." 
Could  any  satie  man  ever  have  thought  that  ?  Is  it  not 
clear  that  this  man  who  took  the  President's  life  was 
blind  on  that  side  of  his  being;  that  there  he  could 
not  see  things  as  they  really  were;  that  there  he  was 
idiotic,  or  insane  ? 

Of  course  he  and  his  like  cannot  be  permitted  to 
go  about  shooting  Presidents,  or  Kings,  or  Emperors. 
They  must  be  kept  from  such  exercise  of  their  crazed 
purposes.  But  I  believe  the  time  will  come  when  such 
erratics  will  not  be  killed.  I  believe  the  hour  will 
strike  when  even  such  as  these  will  be  loved  and  pitied, 
rather  than  cursed  and  hated ;  when  the  way  they  are 
will  be  taken  into  the  account,  in  passing  judgment 
upon  them.  I  believe  that,  in  his  inmost  soul.  Presi- 
dent McKinley  had  no  desire  that  his  assassin's  life 
should  be  taken.  But,  as  things  were,  he  could  only 
say:  "Suffer  it  to  be  so  now."  There  are  better  days 
ahead  of  us  than  have  ever  yet  been.) 

Again,  it  will  help  us  greatly  if  we  can  bring  our- 
selves to  realize  that  these  variations  in  humanity  that 
tend  towards  unrighteousness,  these  "shorts"  of  one 
kind  or  another,  are  not  confined  to  any  one  class  of 
people,  to  any  one  stratum  of  society,  or  to  any  one 
realm  of  life.  In  other  words,  if  we  are  wise  we  shall 
come  to  understand,  for  one  thing,  that  there  is  no  such 


82  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

thing  as  a  "  criminal  class  "  of  people,  in  the  ordinary 
sense  of  that  phrase. 

Doubtless  Lombroso  and  his  coadjutors  are  in  large 
measure  right  in  the  things  they  have  written  about 
criminals.  But  very  many  of  the  conclusions  that  have 
been  drawn  from  their  investigations  and  writings  are 
altogether  wrong.  Many  of  the  physical  signs  of 
criminality  that  they  have  noted  are  true  to  the  line; 
but  the  conclusion  that  these  signs  manifest  themselves 
wholly,  or  in  any  considerable  majority,  in  any  particu- 
lar class,  or  branch,  of  human  society  —  this  is  entirely 
wrong.  Criminality  knows  no  such  thing  as  class,  or 
rank,  or  station  in  life.  Such  "  shorts  "  are  in  evidence 
on  every  round  of  the  social  ladder,  in  every  grade  of 
human  life.  History  gives  ample  proof  that  kings 
there  have  been  who  were  not  exempt,  and  that  beg- 
gars have  lived  who  were  in  like  case.  Some  of  the 
clergy,  of  the  highest  rank,  have  suffered  from  the 
same  cause,  and  there  have  been  unbelievers  who 
showed  signs  of  lack  in  the  same  direction.  In  many 
of  these  the  physical  signs  of  errancy  may  have 
showed  in  much  the  same  way,  and  in  this  respect 
Lombroso  is  right.  The  faults  were  in  their  bodies,  and 
Lombroso  translated  the  outward  showings  correctly. 
But  the  conclusion  that  is  often  drawn,  that  there  is  a 
criminal  class  that  springs  from,  or  is  chiefly  recruited 
from,  some  particular  class  of  society  —  this  is  not  true. 

If  this  fact  is  kept  in  mind,  it  will  clear  away  a  lot  of 
rubbish  that  often  appears  in  the  form  of  misunderstand- 
ing, prejudice,  and  injustice,  in  the  practical  work  of 
parents  and  teachers  who  have  to  deal  with  all  sorts  of 
"shorts  "  in  the  family  and  schoolroom. 

Again,  it  will  help  greatly,  in  a  general  way,  to  under- 


WHAT  FOLLOWS?  83 

stand  that  we  must  not  be  too  hasty  in  making  up  our 
minds  as  to  the  "  longs  "  and  "  shorts  "  of  any  given  in- 
dividual, ourselves  included.  There  are  hard  and  fast 
lines  in  these  premises,  boundaries  that  cannot  be 
broken  over  or  passed,  in  every  one  of  us  ;  but  we 
should  never  be  hasty  in  thinking  that  we  have  dis- 
covered such  as  these  in  ourselves,  or  in  our  children,  or 
in  our  pupils.  Good  hard  common  sense,  and  a  diligent, 
faithful,  intelligent  study  of  these  things  as  they  really 
are,  in  any  given  individual,  will  keep  us  from  going 
wrong  here.  Only  this  :  keep  in  mind  that  we  are 
always  to  seek  for  the  natural  ways  of  the  individual, 
those  that  are  in  the  line  of  righteousness,  and  to  help, 
to  the  uttermost,  in  these  directions,  knowing  that  such 
movement,  free  and  joyous,  will  always  tend  to  the  best 
interest  of  all  parties  concerned.  And  where  there  is 
weakness  in  any  given  case,  we  will  do  the  best  we  can 
to  help  overcome  such  condition,  but  never  at  the  ex- 
pense of  retarding  what  is  already  strong.  If  I  have 
one  bad  leg,  it  can  never  be  made  good  by  my  being 
prohibited  from  using  my  good  leg  till  the  bad  one  is 
equally  sound  and  usable.  That  is  a  fundamental  prin- 
ciple, one  never  to  be  forgotten. 

But,  while  there  are  hard  and  fast  lines  and  impass- 
able boundaries  in  the  make-up  of  all  of  us,  yet,  in  large 
measure,  the  great  bulk  of  humanity  can  move  out  in 
many  like  directions,  most  of  which  are  so  common  to 
mankind  that  we  count  them  as  normal.  Thus,  most 
children  can  learn  to  read,  though  some  can  master  this  ac- 
complishment much  more  easily  than  others.  As  I  have 
already  said,  I  have  known  cases  where  the  art  of  read- 
ing came  so  naturally  to  the  child  that  he  never  had  to 
be  taught  at  all.     I  have  known  other  cases  where  it  was 


84  ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

exceedingly  difficult  to  get  the  pupil  to  read  very  much, 
or  very  well,  even  at  the  expense  of  a  great  amount  of 
teaching.  In  some  of  these  latter  cases  the  pupils 
were  normally  strong  in  other  directions ;  in  a  few  they 
were  exceedingly  able  in  one  or  more  other  ways.  I 
have  a  record  of  a  few  instances  where  pupils  could  not 
learn  to  read  at  all,  and  yet  they  were  thoroughly  nor- 
mal in  several  other  ways.  The  range  is  almost  infinite, 
here  and  otherwhere.  But,  in  each  and  every  case,  the 
child  should  be  cared  for  according  to  the  way  he  natu- 
rally is,  and  not  according  to  some  fixed  plan  that  some- 
body has  laid  down  as  the  regular  thing  for  all  children 
to  attain  to.  And,  above  all,  as  I  have  said  more  than 
once,  the  child  should  never  be  hindered  where  he  is 
strong,  to  make  good  where  he  is  weak. 

Again,  it  sometimes  happens  in  a  marked  degree,  and 
in  most  children  it  is  true  to  a  considerable  extent,  that 
possibilities,  "  longs "  and  "  shorts,"  vary  as  the  child 
grows.  A  child  is  an  undeveloped  quantity,  and  its 
capabilities  are  not  all  "  worn  on  its  sleeve  "  from  the 
first.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  one  should  not  be  too 
much  in  a  hurry  in  declaring  that  a  given  child  is  "  long  " 
or  "short,"  here  or  there.  But  if  we  keep  our  eyes 
open,  there  is  small  danger  of  our  going  wrong  here. 
There  are  no  Mede-and-Persian  laws  that  will  universally 
apply  to  the  individual  soul.  Each  case  must  be  studied 
by  itself,  and  action  determined  according  to  needs, 
every  time  and  continually. 

And  it  sometimes  happens  that  very  marked  changes 
in  the  possibilities  of  a  given  child  may  suddenly  appear, 
for  good  and  sufficient  reasons.  Dr.  Sperry,  of  Oberlin, 
Ohio,  tells  of  a  boy  whose  case  came  under  his  observa- 
tion, which  well  illustrates  this  point. 


WHAT  FOLLOWS?  85 

This  boy  had  been  cared  for  by  a  charitable  institution 
for  some  years,  but  had  never  been  able  to  learn  to  read. 
Finally  the  manager  of  the  institution  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  it  was  unwise  to  keep  him  any  longer,  as 
there  were  no  scholarly  possibiUties  for  him,  and  he  was 
filling  a  place  that  some  more  promising  child  might 
occupy.  So  he  called  the  boy  and  told  him  that  he 
would  have  to  leave  the  institution.  It  nearly  broke  the 
poor  fellow's  heart,  and  he  cried  all  night  about  it.  In  the 
morning  he  came  down  to  breakfast  with  his  reading 
book  in  his  hand,  and,  going  to  his  teacher,  he  said  :  "  I 
can  read !  "  And  he  could.  The  doctor  says  that  from 
that  time  on  the  boy  learned  to  read  rapidly,  and  that  he 
afterwards  pursued  an  extended  course  of  study  success- 
fully. The  case  is  surely  rare,  at  least  few  such  have 
ever  been  reported,  but  it  is  very  significant,  and  well 
worth  noting. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  cases  of  this  sudden 
change  in  the  possibilities  and  impossibilities  of  a  child 
that  has  ever  met  my  attention  is  that  of  the  late  Dr.  W. 
J.  Stillman,  as  he  reports  it  in  his  autobiography,  which 
was  published  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  for  1900,  and 
which,  I  think,  has  since  appeared  in  book  form.  In  the 
first  chapter  of  the  story  of  his  life  he  relates  that  he  was 
a  wonderfully  precocious  child.  He  says :  "  My  mother 
taught  me  my  letters  before  I  could  articulate  them,  and 
when  I  was  two  I  could  read,  and  at  three  I  was  put  on 
a  high  stool  to  read  the  Bible  for  visitors,  so  that  I  can- 
not remember  when  I  could  not  read."  He  then  goes 
on  to  tell  how  he  held  this  pace,  so  to  speak,  till  he  was 
seven  years  of  age,  being  counted  a  prodigy  by  all  the 
community  in  which  he  lived.  He  read  everything  that 
he   could   lay  hands  on,  and  could   relate   with   great 


86  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

fluency  all  that  he  read.  But  he  had  a  severe  attack  of 
typhoid  fever  when  he  was  seven,  "  out  of  which,"  he  says, 
"  I  came  a  model  of  stupidity,  and  so  remained  till  I  was 
fourteen,  my  thinking  powers  being  so  completely  sus- 
pended, that  at  the  dame's  school  to  which  I  was  sent,  I 
was  repeatedly  flogged  for  not  comprehending  the  sim- 
plest things."  (Think  of  it!)  "I  got  through  simple 
arithmetic  as  far  as  long  division,  and  there  I  had  to 
be  turned  back  to  the  beginning  three  times,  before  I 
could  be  made  to  understand  the  principle  of  division  by 
more  than  one  number." 

The  "intellectual  slowness,"  he  says,  "continued  year 
after  year."  He  was  kept  in  school  (for  his  parents 
were  anxious  that  he  should  become  a  clergyman),  in 
spite  of  his  mental  disabilities.  He  studied  hard,  but 
made  little  progress  worth  mentioning.  The  story  he 
tells  of  his  life  for  seven  years  is  one  of  the  most  pathetic 
I  have  ever  read.  At  times  it  is  little  short  of  a  tragedy, 
as  witness  the  following  :  "  It  often  happened  that  when 
a  question  that  had  passed  the  other  pupils  came  to  me, 
the  teacher  used  to  address  me,  *  Well,  stupid,  what  do 
you  say  ? '  "  If  that  is  not  tragedy,  I  don't  know  what 
is.  And  yet,  I  have  heard  teachers  do  the  like,  and  so 
have  you. 

What  follows  in  his  story  is  so  remarkable  that  I  am 
sure  I  shall  be  excused  for  quoting  it  at  length.  The 
year  that  he  was  fourteen  he  was  placed  in  a  boarding 
school,  and  of  his  experience  there  he  writes  :  "  The 
persistent  apathy  which  had  oppressed  me  for  so  many 
years  still  refused  to  lift,  and  my  stupidity  in  learning 
was  such  that  my  brother  threatened  to  send  me  home 
as  a  disgrace  to  the  family.  I  had  taken  up  Latin  again, 
algebra  and  geometry ;  and  though  I  was  up  by  candle 


WHAT  FOLLOWS?  87 

light  in  the  morning,  and  rarely  put  my  books  away  till 
after  ten  at  night,  except  for  meals,  it  was  impossible  for 
me  to  construe  half  the  lesson  in  Virgil,  and  geometry 
was  learned  by  rote.  I  gave  up  exercise  in  order  to  gain 
time  for  study,  and  my  despairing  struggles  were  misery. 
I  was  then  fourteen,  in  the  seventh  year  of  this  dark- 
ness, and  it  seemed  to  me  hopeless. 

"  What  happened  I  know  not,  but  about  the  middle 
of  the  first  term  the  mental  fog  broke  away  suddenly, 
and  before  the  term  ended  I  could  construe  the  Latin  in 
less  time  than  it  took  to  recite  it,  and  the  demonstrations 
of  Euclid  were  as  clear  to  me  as  a  fairy  story.  My 
memory  came  back  so  completely  that  I  could  recite 
poems  after  a  single  reading,  and  no  member  of  the 
class  passed  a  more  brilliant  examination  at  the  close  of 
the  term  than  I.  At  the  end  of  the  second  term  I  could 
recite  the  whole  of  Legendre's  Geometry,  plane  and 
spherical,  without  a  question,  and  the  class  examination 
was  recorded  as  the  most  brilliant  which  the  academy 
had  witnessed  for  many  years.  I  have  never  been  able 
to  conceive  an  explanation  of  this  curious  phenomenon, 
which  I  only  record  as  of  possible  interest  to  some 
student  of  psychology." 

Such  is  this  most  remarkable  record,  and  it  surely  is 
of  interest  to  every  teacher  and  parent,  even  if  they 
have  never  heard  the  word  "  psychology."  And  it  is  of 
still  more  significance  to  all  who  are  engaged  in  trying 
to  educate  all  the  children  of  all  the  people. 


CHAPTER   X 

AGAIN   THE   BODY 

Theory  regarding  Dr.  Stillman's  Case  —  Questions  suggested  by 
such  Phenomena  —  Records  of  Boy  with  Crushed  Skull  —  Pupil 
Blind  in  one  Eye  —  Other  Similar  Cases  —  Persistence  of  Pro- 
nounced Congenital  Shortage  —  Colonel  Parker's  Protest  —  Pos- 
sibiUties  regarding  Idiocy  —  Whitman  on  such  Manifestations  — 
Erroneous  Impressions  regarding  the  extremely  ''Short"  — 
Schools  for  Imbeciles  to  Blame  for  this  —  How  such  "  Shorts  " 
should  be  Considered  and  Treated  —  No  Great  Advancement 
probable  along  Lines  of  Extreme  "Shortage"  —  Value  of  Prog- 
ress on  "  Long  "  Capabilities  in  such  Cases. 

Have  you  any  theory  as  to  the  cause  that  underlay 
this  most  remarkable  case  of  Dr.  Stillman  ?  There 
must  have  been  a  cause,  and  the  case  must  be  accounted 
for,  by  any  theory  that  is  at  all  worthy  of  consideration. 
Nor  does  it  seem  to  me  that  such  cause  is  far  to  seek. 
To  me  it  appears  more  than  probable  that  the  variation 
in  the  possibilities  of  this  individual,  as  they  appeared, 
so  widely  different,  from  time  to  time,  were  all  the  re- 
sult of  changed  bodily  conditions  —  that  they  were  all 
seated  in  the  body  and  not  in  the  mind. 

For,  see!  First,  we  have  a  child  who  is  able  to  ex- 
press himself,  to  come  through,  to  a  remarkable  degree, 
— far  beyond  the  average.  At  seven  he  is  sick  unto 
death  with  a  disease  that  is  noted  for  the  changes  it 
makes  in  the  bodily  condition  of  those  who  recover 
from  its  malignant  attacks.  Here,  surely,  is  a  change 
of  the  body,  rather  than  of  the  mind.     Out  of  this  ex- 


•AGAIN  THE  BODY  89 

perience  he  came  wholly  unable  to  express  himself  (to 
come  through)  as  he  had  formerly  done.  This  condi- 
tion continued  till  he  was  fourteen  years  old,  or,  in  other 
words,  till  he  came  to  puberty !  Then  his  former  pos- 
sibilities again  appeared  with  wonderful  suddenness,  and 
they  remained  with  him  the  rest  of  his  long  and  useful 
life. 

(Perhaps  I  ought  to  say,  right  here,  to  save  the  read- 
er's "looking  up,"  that  Dr.  Stillman  became  famous  in 
more  than  one  continent,  and  that,  as  a  scholar,  diplo- 
mat, and  statesman,  he  ranked  among  the  first.  He 
represented  the  United  States  at  Rome  for  many  years ; 
he  was  the  friend  and  comrade  of  Ruskin,  and  was 
closely  associated  with  Browning  and  Emerson,  as  well 
as  with  others  of  the  leading  minds  of  his  day.) 

But  from  seven  to  fourteen  this  individual  was  so 
nearly  imbecile  that  his  teachers  used  to  address  him 
as  "  stupid,"  and  it  took  him  three  terms  of  school  to 
master  long  division.  These  are  things  for  all  of  us  to 
remember,  anji  there  is  no  question  as  to  the  facts  in 
the  case.  And,  as  said  before,  let  it  never  be  forgotten 
that  a  fact,  once  established,  is  something  that  must  be 
accounted  for,  and  that  can  never  be  gotten  over. 

It  seems  strange  that  Dr.  Stillman  should  not  have 
observed  that  his  recovery  of  his  lost  abilities  came  at 
the  time  of  his  entering  into  manhood ;  and  that  he 
should  not  have  at  least  suspected  that  there  was  a  close 
relation  between  these  two  facts,  that  one  was  the  cause 
of  the  other.  But,  be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  quite  evident 
that  this  is  the  true  explanation  of  what  happened.  At 
puberty  wonderful  changes  take  place  in  the  human 
body,  as  Stanley  Hall  has  so  ably  shown  in  his  studies 
of  Adolescence,  and  these  open  up  the  way  for  new 


90    ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

possibilities  of  expression  for  the  human  mind,  of  new 
abilities  to  function  in  the  mental  plane.  This  is  true, 
in  large  degree,  in  the  case  of  nearly  every  individual. 
The  results  are  rarely  as  remarkable  as  in  this  case,  but 
the  causes  are  the  same  in  the  whole  human  family. 

My  theory  is  that,  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Stillman,  the 
severe  sickness  that  he  had  when  he  was  seven  left  him 
with  some  clog  upon  certain  portions  of  his  brain  or 
nervous  organism,  the  parts  that  had  to  do  with  his 
power  to  express  himself  before  he  was  sick,  but  which 
he  was  unable  to  use  when  he  got  well  again.  Here 
he  was  stopped  off,  so  to  speak,  for  seven  long  years. 
Here  he  could  not  come  through  as  he  had  once  done. 
Perhaps  there  was  a  stoppage  in  the  proper  supply  of 
blood  for  these  parts  of  the  brain,  while  other  parts 
were  not  so  affected.  I  do  not  know.  I  do  not  know 
that  any  one  knows  just  exactly  what  happened ;  but  I 
think  it  is  clear  that  the  trouble  was  all  in  the  body  of 
the  boy,  and  not  in  his  mind. 

My  reason  for  thinking  so  is  that  suddenly  he  was 
restored  to  a  former  condition,  was  able  to  express  him- 
self as  aforetime,  and  that  just  when  great  bodily 
changes  came  to  him.  I  have  an  idea  that  these  bodily 
changes,  which  came  at  puberty,  broke  down  the  clogs 
that  had  interrupted  the  coming  through  of  this  lad  on 
so  many  lines  for  so  many  years ;  and  that,  these  bar- 
riers being  removed,  he  could  again  express  himself  as 
he  had  formerly  done — could  function  in  certain  men- 
tal planes  as  aforetime. 

I  ought  to  add  that  young  Stillman  was  not  "  stopped 
off "  in  all  his  abilities  to  function  in  mental  planes  dur- 
ing these  seven  lean  years.  His  knowledge  of  nature, 
plants,  flowers,  and  animals,  and  his  love  for  studying 


AGAIN  THE  BODY 


91 


them  —  were  as  great  as  ever,  and  constantly  grew  to 
more  and  more.  But  all  these  points  on  which  he  could 
still  function  were  relegated  to  disuse  by  his  parents  and 
teachers  in  order  that  he  might  gain  book  knowledge, 
where  he  had  become  "  short." 

Nor  do  I  believe  that  "  keeping  him  everlastingly  at " 
these  studies  was  the  cause  of  his  mastering  them. 
The  denouement  was  too  sudden  to  make  this  theory 
account  for  such  result.  In  such  case,  his  progress 
would  have  been  gradual.  He  did  make  some  gradual 
progress  in  his  studies  during  the  years  of  his  affliction. 
But  the  relief  came  in  an  instant,  and  without  effort  on 
his  part.  Such  is  not  the  way  of  plodding.  It  was  not 
steady  progress  as  a  result  of  persistent  effort  that 
caused  him  to  arrive,  but  a  sudden  illumination  that 
came  unlooked  for  and  unsought. 

Think  on  this  for  a  minute,  teacher  or  parent  or 
other  reader. 

But  was  there  anything  the  matter  with  this  boy's 
mind,  with  his  inmost  self,  during  these  seven  strange 
years  .■'  Surely  not.  He  was  all  right,  all  the  time. 
The  instrument  he  had  to  play  on  was  out  of  repair  in 
some  places  for  a  time,  and  so  he  could  then  make  no 
music  on  these  keys  —  some  hammer  was  unglued  or 
peg  broken,  for  the  time  being.  When  these  bad 
places  were  made  good,  then  he  could  play  again  as  he 
had  once  done. 

And  do  not  the  facts  that  he  had  played  once,  and 
then  could  not  play  for  a  while,  and  then  could  play 
again  after  great  bodily  changes  had  come  to  him,  —  do 
not  these  things  all  prove  that  the  trouble  was  entirely 
in  the  instrument  and  not  at  all  in  the  player  —  that  it 
was  the  body  and  not  the  mind  of  this  individual  that 


92  ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

was  at  fault  ?  It  seems  to  me  that  there  can  be  small 
question  as  to  the  truth  of  such  surmise ;  indeed,  that 
the  facts  cannot  be  accounted  for  in  any  other  way. 

And  if  these  things  are  so  (and  I  firmly  beheve  they 
are),  what  rows  on  rows  of  interrogation  marks  they  set 
upon  end,  to  question  many  of  our  acts  as  parents  and 
teachers  ?  And  how  are  these  question  marks  followed 
by  rows  on  rows  of  marks  of  command,  declaring  that 
we  must  mend  our  ways  in  these  regards  !  If  the 
bodily  conditions  of  our  children  and  pupils  are  as 
fundamental  and  important  as  all  these  things  indicate, 
what  are  we  going  to  do  about  it  ? 

And  again  I  say,  we  must  do  the  best  we  can. 
But  first  of  all  we  must  have  regard  to  the  facts  in  the 
case,  and  act  accordingly,  to  the  best  of  our  ability, 
things  being  as  they  are. 

(Just  here  I  received  a  report  of  a  most  suggestive 
case  in  point  from  a  teacher  of  "short"  children  in  the 
public  schools  of  New  York  City.  She  has  among  her 
pupils  a  boy  of  twelve  who  is  now  very  limited  in 
his  possibilities.  And  yet  this  same  boy  had  a  most 
excellent  school  record  up  to  the  time  he  was  ten  years 
of  age.  But  at  that  time  of  his  life  he  had  his  skull 
fractured  by  falling  from  a  fire  escape  in  trying  to  get 
out  of  a  burning  apartment  building.  The  injury  was 
so  severe  that  his  life  hung  by  a  thread  for  weeks,  but 
he  finally  lived.  But  he  lives  as  only  a  part  of  his 
former  mental  self.  He  is  now  able  to  do  almost 
nothing  at  all  with  books,  and  is  almost  entirely  imbecile 
regarding  subjects  on  which  he  was  once  able  to  express 
himself  well.  Can  any  one  say  that  this  boy's  mind 
was  dashed  out  on  a  curbstone .-"  It  was  not  his  mind, 
but  his  body,  that  was  broken.     And  the  possibility  of 


AGAIN  THE  BODY 


93 


his  mind  using  his  body  was  thereby  limited.  The  hurt 
is  probably  of  a  sort  that  the  changes  that  come  at 
puberty  will  never  rectify  —  that  nothing  can  modify ; 
but  the  case  furnishes  one  more  proof  that  "these 
things  are  in  the  body."     So  I  note  it  here.) 

And  so  we  must  learn  to  esteem  the  bodies  of  our 
children  and  pupils  as  of  far  more  importance  than  they 
were  once  considered  to  be,  and  give  attention  to  them 
accordingly.  As  fast  as  we  can  attain  to  it,  we  must 
have  these  bodies  examined  by  those  who  are  competent 
to  pass  judgment  upon  them ;  and,  as  far  as  possible, 
thus  learn  what  their  condition  is,  in  each  and  every 
case.  Especially  should  this  be  done  with  children  who 
show  signs  of  variation  from  normal  lines.  I  am  no 
expert,  but  I  once  found,  in  a  school  I  visited,  a  boy 
twelve  years  old  who  was  blind  in  one  eye;  and  yet 
neither  his  teachers  nor  his  parents  had  ever  discovered 
the  fact !  He  was  two  grades  below  where  he  should 
have  been,  in  the  natural  order  of  things,  and  his  bad 
eye  was  the  cause  of  it.  Both  his  parents  and  his 
teachers  considered  him  stupid,  and  there  we  are  again. 
And  this  case  of  carelessness  and  neglect  is  not  nearly 
as  rare  as  it  may  seem  to  be. 

But  I  need  not  take  time  to  speak  in  detail  of  near- 
sightedness, partial  deafness,  semi-paralysis  of  one  organ 
or  another,  and  many  other  bodily  defects  which  hamper 
pupils  in  their  progress  in  school.  Thank  Heaven,  some 
teachers  are  beginning  to  recognize  them  as  factors  in 
the  work  attempted  in  the  schoolroom,  and  now  and 
then  they  modify  what  they  attempt  to  do  for  one  pupil 
or  another,  accordingly.  But  far  too  largely,  as  yet, 
these  things  are  as  idle  tales  to  many  teachers,  both 
of    high   and   low   degree.     Yet   the   light  is    coming 


94  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

through,  all  along  the  line.      I  shall  say  more  about 
this  later. 

And  now  a  word  or  two  as  to  what  can  probably  be 
done  with  these  poor,  or  bad-bodied  pupils — the  "shorts," 
in  one  way  or  another. 

In  the  first  place,  I  am  convinced  that,  where  the 
shortage  is  decidedly  pronounced,  there  is  not  nearly 
the  percentage  of  possibility  for  advancement,  on  the 
lines  of  the  shortage,  that  has  generally  been  supposed. 
This  may  seem  a  hard  saying,  but  the  truth  must  be 
told,  and  I  believe  this  to  be  true.  Colonel  Parker  once 
said  to  me,  "  Oh,  Mr.  Smith,  your  doctrine  is  so  hope- 
less !  "  To  which  I  replied,  "  That  all  depends."  But 
I  will  return  to  this  later,  also. 

Where  the  shortage  in  the  child  is  so  pronounced  that 
it  amounts  to  idiocy,  let  it  be  said,  once  for  all,  that 
there  is  small  chance  for  such  a  child  ever  advancing 
very  far  along  its  idiotic  lines.  It  may  progress,  some- 
times far  beyond  a  normal  child,  in  some  other  direc- 
tions, but  rarely  along  the  lines  of  its  shortage.  Where 
the  idiocy  includes  a  large  number  of  the  faculties  of 
the  child,  there  is  little  use  of  even  hoping  that  such  a 
child  can  be  brought  to  the  standard  of  normality.  I 
need  not  say  that  such  cases  are  uncommon,  but  they 
exist ;  and  where  they  do  exist,  they  prove  the  truth  of 
what  I  have  said.  There  are  human  bodies  that  are  in 
such  bad  shape,  that  were  so  from  the  beginning  (they 
were  born  so),  or  that  have  been  made  so  by  accident 
(as  in  the  case  of  the  boy  who  fell  from  the  ladder  and 
broke  his  skull),  or  by  disease  of  some  sort,  that  the 
imprisoned  minds  that  live  in  them  can  come  through 
but  very  little  —  sometimes  not  at  all.  Yet  these  bodies 
live,  sometimes  for  years. 


AGAIN  THE  BODY  95 

But  I  do  not  call  even  these  cases  hopeless.  These 
are  the  ones  Walt  Whitman  has  in  mind,  when  he  says : 

"  I  saw  the  face  of  the  most  smeared  and  slobbering  idiot  in  the 

asylum, 
And  I  knew  for  my  consolation  what  they  did  not  know. 
I  know  the  agents  that  emptied  and  broke  my  brother. 
And  I  know  that  the  same  Power  waits,  calm  and  patient,  to  clear 

away  the  rubbish ; 
And  one  of  these  days  I  shall  meet  the  real  landlord, 
Perfect  and  unharmed,  and  every  whit  as  good  as  myself. 
The  Lord  advances,  and  ever  advances. 
Always  the  shadow  in  front, 
But  ever  the   reached   hand  of  the   Almighty,   moving  up  the 

laggards." 

And  that  is  not  hopeless  ! 

I  believe  there  is  a  very  wrong  impression  extant 
about  what  can  be  done  for  idiotic  children  in  institu- 
tions which  are  provided  for  their  care.  Time  and 
again  I  have  heard  stories  about  the  wonderful  things 
that  have  been  done  for  children  in  these  schools.  But 
when  I  have  brought  these  stories  to  the  test,  I  have 
found  that,  whatever  may  have  been  the  intentions  of 
those  who  told  them,  they  have  conveyed  a  very  wrong 
impression  to  the  community  at  large.  And  here  is  the 
reason :  — 

These  stories  about  the  wonderful  advancement  of 
pupils  in  schools  for  idiots  (they  should  never  be  called 
institutions  for  the  feeble-minded;  such  children  are 
not  feeble-minded,  but  only  bad-bodied,  and  so  idiotic 
or  peculiar),  are  most  of  them  true,  in  a  way.  But  the 
progress  made  by  those  children  that  are  told  about  is 
never,  or  at  least  rarely,  if  ever,  along  the  lines  of  their 
natural  idiocy. 

Such  children  are  "born   short"    to   the   extent  of 


96  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

idiocy,  on  some  lines,  while  they  are  born  normal,  or 
often  "  long,"  sometimes  to  an  extent  little  short  of 
genius,  on  other  lines.  Their  idiocies  are  so  numerous 
and  pronounced  that  they  constitute  the  leading  features 
of  the  children's  make-up,  and  so  they  are  sent  to  an 
institution.  Here,  their  "  long "  sides  are  brought  to 
the  front,  and  they  are  sometimes  permitted  to  move 
out  on  the  lines  on  which  they  can  come  through.  This 
work  on  their  long  sides  is  reported,  and  the  conclusion 
reached  by  the  outside  world  is,  that  such  children  have 
been  brought  to  the  standard  of  normality,  all  along  the 
line.  But  this  is  so  rarely  the  case  that  it  is  not  worth 
taking  into  account. 

Once  in  a  while,  as  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Stillman,  a 
child  that  is  idiotic  on  some  lines,  for  the  time  being, 
because  of  something  that  happened  to  him  after  he 
was  born,  may  come  to  normality  on  those  lines;  but 
where  the  child  is  born  idiotic,  there  is  very  little  prob- 
ability that  he  will  ever  become  normal  to  any  great 
degree  in  the  places  where  he  is  "  born  short."  Those 
who  have  had  experience  with  such  children  will  unani- 
mously sustain  these  statements. 

This  principle  holds  true  in  all  cases  where  a  child 
is  really  "  born  short,"  be  the  shortages  many  or  few. 
Where  the  shortage  is  genuine  and  congenital,  it  is 
rarely  ever  overcome.  Charles  Sumner  never  attained 
to  any  mathematical  ability  worth  mentioning;  and 
General  Grant  was  helpless,  as  a  financier,  to  the  day 
of  his  death.  To  be  sure,  he  wrote  his  memoirs  when 
he  was  dying  by  inches.  But  others  had  to  "  finance  " 
them  for  him.  The  principle  stands  in  his  case  and  in 
all  others.  It  seems  hard,  when  looked  at  from  some 
standpoints ;  but  that  is  neither  here  nor  there,  so  far 


AGAIN  THE  BODY  97 

as  the  facts  are  concerned.  The  question  here,  as 
always,  is  what  is  the  truth  in  the  premises  ?  I  firmly 
believe  it  will  always  be  found  just  as  I  have  stated  it. 

And  I  am  also  sure  that  it  is  not  nearly  as  bad  as  it 
seems,  if  it  is  only  thoroughly  understood,  and  the  edu- 
cation of  each  child  is  provided  for  accordingly  —  that 
is,  in  harmony  with  the  way  he  is,  that  he  is  brought  to 
his  best  with  what  he  has  to  do  with,  if  his  "  one  talent " 
is  made  the  most  of. 

And  so,  for  you,  teachers  or  parents  who  have  idiotic 
children  in  your  schools  or  in  your  families,  be  not  cast 
down  overmuch,  and  do  not  torment  either  yourselves 
or  the  children  in  trying  to  bring  them  to  normality  all 
along  the  Hne.  Rather  be  content  to  take  them  as  they 
are,  and  do  the  most  you  can  for  them  along  the  lines  of 
their  possibilities.  Jesus  said  :  "  Neither  this  man  nor 
his  parents  sinned,  but  that  the  glory  of  God  might  be 
made  manifest "  ;  and  if  you  will  help  such  children  to 
move  out  on  the  line  of  their  native  abilities,  to  the  limit 
of  their  powers,  you  will  glorify  God  as  greatly  as  the 
greatest !  See  it  that  way,  which  is  the  right  way,  I 
believe,  and  be  comforted,  ye  who  are  weighed  down 
with  this  sort  of  burden.     And  there  are  many  such. 

And  if  you  send  a  child  of  yours  to  an  "  institution," 
don't  expect  too  much  to  come  of  it.  Many  people  go 
broken-hearted  on  this  score.  They  have  heard  such 
wondrous  tales  about  what  has  been  done  for  children 
who  they  supposed  were  like  theirs  that  their  hopes 
mount  high  as  they  imagine  what  may  be  done  for  their 
own  afflicted  one.  And  then  the  months  go  by,  and 
the  change  they  hope  for  comes  not;  whereupon  they 
sink  down  in  despair !  The  cause  of  this  unfortunate 
outcome  is  a  failure  to  realize  the  truth  of  what  I  have 


98  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

told  in  these  last  pages.  True  your  hopes  to  the  line 
of  the  possible  in  such  cases,  to  what  can  be  done  for 
such  children,  they  being  as  they  are,  and  you  will  not 
then  be  disappointed;  always  remembering  that  there 
is  small  hope  of  making  any  child  normally  "long" 
where  he  is  abnormally  "  short."  Let  the  educational 
work  for  such  children  be  done  along  the  lines  of  their 
longages,  and  then  helpful  and  satisfactory  results, 
viewed  from  that  standpoint,  can  be  obtained. 

It  is  further  true  that  the  more  these  children  are  suc- 
cessfully moved  up  along  the  lines  of  their  possibilities, 
the  more  probability  there  is  that  they  may  move  up,  in 
some  measure,  along  the  lines  of  their  so-far-indicated  im- 
possibilities. They  gather  strength,  to  a  degree,  all  along 
the  line,  by  the  exercise  of  what  faculties  they  can  suc- 
cessfully use.  This  is  a  point  never  to  be  forgotten  in 
the  education  of  such  children.  But  growth  must  come, 
if  it  comes  at  all,  by  starting  the  child  along  the  lines  in 
which  he  has  at  least  some  natural  ability  to  move.  If 
a  start  can  be  made  there,  there  is  hope  for  some  prog- 
ress elsewhere.  Some  of  these  children  are  the  most 
lovable  in  the  world,  and  they  are  all  "provided  for." 
Our  duty  is  to  do  the  best  we  can  for  them,  they  being 
what  they  are.  They  form  a  part  of  all  the  children  of 
all  the  people,  and  as  such  they  should  be  educated  to 
the  limit  of  their  several  possibilities. 


CHAPTER   XI 

STRICTLY   BETWEEN   OURSELVES 

Reasons  for  writing  this  Chapter  —  Doubts  caused  by  the  Phenom- 
ena of  Extreme  "Shortage"  —  Despair  Resulting  —  A  Founda- 
tion of  Assurance  Needful — "The  Maker  of  All  Things"  — 
Everything  is  Looked  After  —  Fatalism  Denied  —  Workers  with 
God— Life  and  Death  the  Constant  Factors  of  all  Change  — 
Death  has  as  much  Purport  as  Life — Universality  of  Protecting 
Power — Definition  of  Hell  — "All  a  Procession "  — Monarchy 
and  Democracy  Contrasted  —  The  Basic  Law  of  Evolution  — 
The  Mission  of  the  Seemingly  Bad  —  Difficulty  of  making 
Uniform  Regulations  for  All  Mankind  —  Personal  Conclusions  — 
A  Link  binding  the  Parts  of  the  Book  together. 

In  justice  to  all  parties  concerned,  and  especially  to 
you  who  have  so  patiently  lent  me  your  eyes  and 
given  me  your  attention  through  the  preceding  pages,  it 
seems  to  me  that,  before  we  go  farther,  it  is  only  fair, 
in  view  of  some  of  the  things  I  have  said  in  the  last  few 
chapters,  I  should  open  my  heart  to  you  a  good  way 
deeper  down  than  I  have  yet  done,  and  let  you  see  the 
foundation  I  stand  on,  holding  the  theories  and  beliefs 
which  I  do  regarding  the  various  and  sundry  "  shorts  " 
in  humanity  that  I  have  tried  to  set  forth  in  what  I 
have  written  thus  far.  For,  the  truth  is  that  no  one  can 
honestly  look  these  shortage  facts  in  the  face  without 
having  great  questions  rise  in  his  mind  as  to  the  why  of 
it  all ;  and,  beyond  that,  the  outcome  of  it  all.  It  is 
such  considerations  that  sometimes  force  us  to  the  verge 
of  despair,  that  hurl  us  into  a  sea  of  doubt  where  we 
shall  perish  miserably  if  we  have  not  a  rock  of  im- 
movable faith  to  cling  to. 

99 


lOO        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

Of  course  I  hesitate  to  say  what  I  am  going  to  say, 
for  reasons  that  you  can  well  understand.  You  have 
only  to  think  how  it  would  be  if  the  case  were  your 
own,  and  then  you  will  know  all  about  it. 

And  in  saying  what  I  do  I  make  no  claim  that  I 
have  found  the  absolutely  immovable  and  fundamentally 
basic  rock  on  which  all  can  at  once  rest  and  be  at  peace. 
I  may  not  have  found  such  a  place  for  any  one  else,  not 
even  for  you.  But  of  this  you  may  be  assured,  I  have 
found  it  for  myself,  and  there  is  a  chance  that  I  may 
have  found  it  for  some  one  else  —  perhaps  for  you. 
Anyhow,  I  feel  that  the  rock  under  my  feet  is  broad 
enough,  and  solid  enough,  to  sustain  your  weight  as 
well  as  mine,  and  with  us  the  weight  of  all  humanity, 
for  all  time  and  eternity,  if  once  the  brethren  and  sisters 
can  settle  down  on  such  a  basis. 

I  cannot  go  into  details  as  I  should  like  to,  but  all  at 
once  and  without  apology  I  state  that  the  rock  I  am 
based  on  is  found  in  the  words,  "  God  made  the  heavens 
and  the  earth." 

That  sentence  tells  what  I  stand  on ;  and,  up  to 
date,  nothing  has  been  able  to  move  me  therefrom.  I 
accept  that  as  the  rock-bottom,  St.  Peter  Sandstone 
foundation  that  sustains  me  now,  and  that  I  believe 
will  sustain  me  continually. 

For  if  God  made  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  I  reckon 
he  has  made  all  that  has  ever  been  made.  (In  another 
place  the  Book  says,  "  And  without  him  was  not  any- 
thing made  that  was  made,"  and  that  is  a  good  way  to 
tell  it.)  And  if  God  made  all  these,  that  takes  in  you, 
and  me,  and  all  the  rest  of  everything  everywhere. 
And  that  is  enough ! 

And  all  the  evidence  I  can  get  at  goes  to  show  that 


STRICTLY  BETWEEN  OURSELVES  loi 

the  Power  that  has  made  all  these  things  (which  is  only 
another  name  for  what  I  and  many  others  call  God), 
takes  care  of  them,  and  will  forever  keep  doing  so. 
And  that  brings  you,  and  me,  and  all  the  rest  of  every- 
thing under  shelter.  And,  being  under  shelter,  you, 
and  I,  and  all  the  rest  of  everything  are  safe.  And  if 
we  are  all  safe,  that  is  enough ! 

And  so  I  rest  secure;  and  so  can  you,  and  so  can 
all,  and  everybody. 

I  grant  that  I  see  a  good  many  things  about  me 
which,  now  and  then,  it  seems  to  me,  might  be  better 
looked  after.  But  the  older  I  grow  the  fewer  such 
things  I  see,  and  the  better  I  know  that  even  these 
things  are  cared  for,  in  a  way  that  I  once  knew  not  of. 
I  have  had  experiences  in  my  own  life,  a  good  many  of 
them,  that,  at  the  time,  I  thought  were  not  looked  after 
by  the  Power  behind  them  as  I  thought  they  should 
have  been.  But  the  years  have  proved  that  even  these 
were  "  provided  for."  It  has  been  the  same  way  with 
you,  has  it  not  ? 

And  so,  as  I  look  out  upon  the  great  multitudes  of 
my  brothers  and  sisters,  of  all  classes  and  conditions  of 
men,  women,  and  children,  all  the  world  over,  and  see 
the  way  they  are,  I  cannot  be  troubled.  For  I  believe 
that  God  made  them  all,  and  that  what  he  has  made  he 
will  care  for,  to  the  utmost  limit.  I  find  corroborative 
evidence  of  this,  every  way  I  look.  The  stars  are  cared 
for,  and  the  stuff  that  the  stars  and  all  things  else  are 
made  of  is  cared  for,  and  all  in  between  and  about  them 
all  is  cared  for.  And  you,  and  I,  and  all  the  rest,  are 
somewhere  in  between  or  about  all  these  things. 

And  when  I  see  some  things  that  seem  to  me  not 
cared  for,  I  have  come  to  understand  that  my  reasons 


I02        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

for  thinking  so  are  because  I  do  not  see  far  enough,  or 
deep  enough,  or  wide  enough.  Then  I  become  patient 
and  "  willing  to  wait." 

And  this  does  not  mean  fatalism.  Anything  but 
that.  For,  in  my  inmost  soul,  I  feel  that  if  I  have  been 
made,  I  also  am  a  maker.  The  Book  has  it  that  "  we 
are  all  workers  together  with  God,"  and  my  experience 
teaches  me  that  the  Book  is  right  about  it.  And  this 
completes  the  circle  —  covers  the  whole  ground.  The 
Power  that  made  all  things  works,  and  we  work,  and  so 
things  get  on. 

And  the  object  of  all  work — God's,  yours,  mine, 
everybody's — is  to  make  new  and  higher  combinations 
out  of  things  that  are  now  combined  in  some  other  way 
than  as  we  would  henceforth  have  them. 

When  I  found  that  out,  it  made  a  great  change  in  the 
way  I  looked  at  things,  past,  present,  and  to  come !  It 
took  the  edge  off  my  blame  of  people  and  things  as 
they  are,  and  led  me  to  see  that  there  was  a  reason  why, 
in  every  case. 

It  made  me  understand  that  a  great  many  conditions 
should  be  changed,  and  gave  me  zeal  to  try  to  help 
change  them,  as  the  Great  Worker  is  helping  to  change 
things,  all  the  time.  But,  meantime,  it  filled  me  with 
charity  instead  of  hatred,  and  it  taught  me  to  wait 
patiently  for  outcomes. 

This  discovery  also  compelled  me  to  see  that  all 
change  must  be  from  something  that  now  is  into  some- 
thing which  is  yet  to  be ;  and  that  it  is  Ufe  and  death 
which  make  such  change  possible  —  which  bring  such 
change  about !  Neither  of  these  can  do  the  work  alone. 
It  always  takes  them  both,  death  and  life,  whenever  a 
change  in   anything  is   made.     And  neither  of   these 


STRICTLY  BETWEEN  OURSELVES 


103 


comes  first  in  the  order  of  their  doing.  They  work  in 
absolute  unity.  The  only  difference  between  them  is 
that  one  is  positive  and  the  other  negative.  Life  pushes, 
and  death  gives  way  ;  but  the  push  and  the  yielding  are 
a  part  of  one  and  the  same  single  performance  —  of  the 
change  from  what  is  into  what  is  to  be. 

When  I  found  that  out,  then  I  saw  that  "  death  has 
just  as  much  purport  as  life  has,"  and  so  I  ceased  to  be 
any  more  afraid  of  death  than  of  life.  I  also  learned 
that  it  is  not  wise  to  pass  blame  upon  present  conditions, 
no  matter  what  they  may  be,  or  to  waste  time  mourning 
over  them  ;  but  that  it  is  my  business,  as  a  positive  factor 
in  the  problem,  always  to  be  "  up  and  doing,"  always 
busy  making  changes  —  bringing  death  to  the  unworthy 
and  life  to  that  which  is  better. 

And  then  I  saw  what  is  true  for  me  must  be  true  for 
everybody  else,  absolutely. 

For,  who  am  I,  or  who  are  you,  that  we  and  ours 
should  be  well  looked  after  and  the  rest  be  left  uncared 
for  ?  I  used  to  think  that  happiness  would  come  if  I 
and  mine  were  specially  cared  for.  But  I  was  mis- 
taken !  I  think  you  will  come  to  the  same  conclusion  if 
you  will  think  these  things  over  for  a  while.  Some  one 
has  said  that  hell  is  the  pursuit  of  happiness  for  its  own 
sake,  and  for  one's  own  selfish  interest.  And  if  only  we 
and  ours  are  cared  for,  that  is  selfishness  supreme  — 
that  is  hell  at  its  utmost. 

No,  it  must  be  all  or  nothing !  Some  is  not  enough ! 
And  it  cannot  be  nothing !  Because,  we  know  that  we 
are  cared  for.  And  because  we  know  that  we  are  each 
only  one  in  the  great  procession,  therefore  the  whole 
procession  is  cared  for. 

And  will  you  think  for  a  minute  what  that  means  ? 


I04        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

Will  you  try  to  think  of  something  that  is  not  cared  for  ? 
The  great  is  cared  for,  and  the  small  is  cared  for,  and 
all  in  between  is  cared  for.  I  have  said  that  in  another 
way,  a  few  lines  back,  but  it  is  so  important  that  it  will 
bear  saying  many  ways,  and  many  times.  All  is  cared 
for,  all  is  "  provided  for." 

And  so  I  look  upon  these  "shorts,"  here  and  there  — 
the  shortages  in  myself  and  in  all  the  rest  I  have  ever 
seen,  anywhere,  and  I  realize  that  we  are  all  only  be- 
coming. We  are  changing  from  what  we  now  are  to 
something  other  than  we  now  are.  That  "  all  is  in  a 
procession,"  and  that  all  is  going  forward.  Some  are 
far  up  the  line,  some  lag  away  in  the  rear,  and  there 
are  crowds  all  in  between.  But  all  came  from  the  same 
Source,  and  all  move  in  the  same  direction  —  forward  ! 

And  the  Maker  of  the  procession  helps  us  to  move 
forward,  and  we  help  ourselves  to  move  forward,  and  it 
is  also  our  business  to  help  those  who  are  about  us  to 
move  forward,  and  so  we  all  get  on. 

Here  and  there  I  see  what  sometimes  seems  to  me  a 
turning  back,  but  I  find  that,  if  I  can  only  keep  such 
appearances  under  my  eye  long  enough,  I  shall  find 
that  this  also  ultimately  makes  for  progress.  You  can 
think  of  a  thousand  such  experiences  in  your  own  line 
of  growth,  and  in  the  line  of  growth  of  others  that  you 
know  about. 

And  then  it  came  to  me  that  it  doesn't  make  so  very 
much  difference  just  where  we  are  in  the  procession,  at 
a  given  time ;  for  we  shall  all  arrive  far  up  the  line,  in 
due  season,  and  then  still  keep  on,  going  up.  The  only 
essential  thi^ng  is  that  we  keep  going.  And  we  shall 
do  that.  The  pace  may  vary,  but  we  shall  all  always 
advance ! 


STRICTLY  BETWEEN  OURSELVES  105 

And  then  I  thought  that  whoever  is  in  advance  has 
no  cause  to  despise  those  who  are  behind,  or  to  look 
down  upon  them,  or  to  boast  over  his  own  position  in 
the  line.  He  may  be  glad  that  he  has  attained,  but  the 
sole  result  of  his  joy  will  be  to  increase  his  effort  to  help 
another  to  come  to  where  he  is.  It  will  cause  him  to 
count  himself  the  servant  of  all  in  his  rear,  and  not  their 
boss.  It  will  make  him  their  brother  and  not  their  king. 
He  will  become  genuinely  democratic,  and  will  be  im- 
bued with  the  true  spirit  of  mutualness. 

For  the  compelling  force  of  monarchy  is  always  self- 
ishness, while  the  animating  spirit  of  genuine  democ- 
racy is  always  self-sacrifice.  The  Power  that  has  made 
all  things,  and  which  sustains  all  things,  and  which  cares 
for  all  things,  and  which  provides  for  all  things  —  this 
Power  is  an  Internal  Animating  Spirit  and  not  an  Ex- 
ternal Compelling  Force.  It  has  mutualness  and  not 
monarchy  for  its  essential  principle. 

And  then  I  learned  to  know  that  the  fundamental  law 
for  each  individual  is  that  he  must  be  permitted  to  go 
his  own  way,  so  long  as  such  going  does  not  interfere 
with  any  one  else  ;  and  this  is  only  another  version  of 
the  Golden  Rule,  as  a  moment's  reflection  will  show. 

All  of  which  means  that  I  have  a  right  to  go  my  own 
way,  and  you  have  an  equal  right  to  go  your  own  way, 
so  long  as  we  harm  no  one  else  by  the  way  we  go ;  and 
that  I  have  no  right  to  compel  you  to  go  my  particular 
way,  neither  have  you  a  right  to  compel  me  to  go  your 
particular  way ;  neither  does  it  become  either  of  us  to 
imperiously  declare  that  our  way  is  the  only  way,  and 
that  he  is  anathema  who  says  otherwise. 

I  need  not  say  that  this  is  really  the  basic  law  of  evo- 
lution, which  proceeds  always  from  the  simple  to  the 


I06        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

complex,  from  the  homogeneous  to  the  heterogeneous 
and  the  infinitely  diversified. 

And  so  I  see  a  place  in  the  procession  for  all  the 
"  longs"  and  a  place  for  all  the  "  shorts,"  and  I  know- 
that  the  present  conditions  of  both  are  but  temporary ; 
that  the  "  longs  "  have  an  endless  road  over  which  they 
can  go,  and  that  the  "  shorts  "  have  an  endless  road  over 
which  they  can  come ;  and  that  neither  need  say  to  the 
other,  "  What  doest  thou  ? "  but  that,  in  the  true  spirit 
of  mutualness  we  will  all  tramp  on  together,  and  keep 
doing  so. 

Then  I  also  saw  that  each  in  his  own  place  is  suffi- 
cient, and  that  there  is  small  need  of  making  compari- 
sons, one  to  the  detriment  of  another ;  but  that  the  main 
item  in  the  count  of  each  is  to  fill  his  own  place  full  to 
the  utmost,  his  ability  being  what  it  is. 

I  also  saw  that  each  has  a  place  and  a  way  of  his  own, 
and  that  all  the  experiences  of  life  that  come  to  any  in- 
dividual are  for  his  best  good ;  and  that,  sometime,  each 
will  come  to  see  it  that  way.  That  what  at  first  seems 
good  may  prove  good  altogether,  and  that  what  at  first 
seems  to  be  bad,  this  also  will  prove  to  be  for  good,  in 
the  long  run.  So  I  quit  quarreling  with  the  seemingly 
bad,  and  instead,  set  myself  to  work  to  find  out 

"  What  He  would  have  this  evil  do  for  me  ? 
What  is  its  mission  ?  what  its  ministry  ? 
What  golden  fruit  lies  hidden  in  this  husk  ? 
How  shall  it  nurse  my  virtue,  nerve  my  will, 
Chasten  my  passions,  purify  my  love, 
And  make  me  in  some  goodly  sense  like  Him 
Who  bore  the  cross  of  evil  while  He  lived 
And  hung  and  bled  upon  it  when  He  died  ?  " 

And  things  looked  differently  to  me  after  this  revela- 
tion came. 


STRICTLY  BETWEEN  OURSELVES 


107 


Then  it  was  revealed  to  me  why  it  is  so  hard  to  make 
rules  and  regulations  (laws,  and  courses  of  study)  that 
shall  work  equally  well  in  all  parts  of  the  procession. 
The  line  is  so  long,  and  there  are  so  many  kinds  in  it ! 
And  so  the  Power  behind  all  has,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
made  rules  and  regulations  for  each  individual  in  es- 
pecial, to  the  effect  that  each  man,  woman,  or  child  shall 
go  his  or  her  own  gait,  so  long  as  such  going  does  not  in- 
terfere with  the  going  of  any  one  else  !  That  is  basic,  and 
the  true  progress  of  each  individual  can  come  only  from 
its  observance.  The  spirit  of  genuine  democracy,  of  true 
mutualness,  always  has  regard  for  such  law.  The  right 
arm  of  monarchy  cares  for  it  not  a  pin's  fee ! 

The  spirit  that  animates  modern  progress  is  grounded 
in  democracy,  in  mutualness.  The  exploiting  of  this  idea 
has  been  too  much  along  monarchical  lines  in  nearly  all 
the  ways  of  life.  A  change  is  bound  to  take  place  in  what 
has  been  attained.  Death  will  get  in  its  work,  and  life 
will  get  in  its  work.  The  unfit  and  mistaken  will  pass 
away,  and  the  fit  and  right  will  take  their  places. 

It  was  not  till  I  got  this  view  of  things  that  I  found 
anything  Uke  rest  and  peace.  But  now  I  can  rest  and 
be  at  peace.  Not  that  I  will  sit  down  and  do  nothing, 
saying  that  it  will  all  come  out  right,  anyhow.  Not 
that  at  all.  But,  knowing  that  I  have  a  place  in  the 
procession,  and  that  it  is  my  business  to  keep  moving ; 
and  seeing,  too,  that  if  I  lag,  I  shall  pay  for  my  in- 
difference, and  get  prodded  on ;  and  having  come  to 
understand  that  what  is  true  of  myself  is  true  to  any- 
body else,  in  that  we  are  all  in  the  procession,  and  so 
are  all  honorable  and  to  be  wondered  at  —  having 
learned  this,  I  march  with  my  brothers  and  sisters, 
proud  of  them  all,  watching  with  equal  joy  the  strong 


Io8        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

walking  of  those  who  are  before  me  and  the  feeble  and 
limping  steps  of  those  who  may  be  far  behind,  as  we  all 
travel  onward,  forever  and  forever. 

Be  comforted,  then,  my  brother,  my  sister,  whoever 
you  are.  Cease  fretting  about  yourself  in  the  procession, 
or  the  place  occupied  by  those  who  are  near  and  dear 
to  you.  If  you  are  "  long  "  in  certain  ways,  be  thankful 
and  not  proud.  If  you  or  yours  are  "short"  (and  no 
matter  how  "  short ")  in  certain  ways,  be  not  ashamed  or 
cast  down,  but  make  the  best  you  can  out  of  what  you 
have ;  realizing  that  "  that  which  fills  its  own  period  or 
place  is  the  equal  of  any,"  and  that  it  is  a  thousand 
times  better  to  do  a  simple  thing  well  than  it  is  to  try  to 
do  something  that  is  too  much  for  you,  and  fail  in  the 
undertaking.  Keep  moving,  keep  working  with  God, 
and  so  you  will  keep  on  arriving  continually. 

The  fact  is  that  the  only  real  joy  of  life  comes  from 
working  with  God,  and  in  helping  to  keep  things  moving. 
Some  one  has  said  that  heaven  is  a  constant  endeavor  on 
one's  part  to  help  to  the  attainment  of  its  possible  best 
every  life  form  that  one  comes  in  contact  with.  I  believe 
this  is  absolutely  true.  And  I  believe  that,  in  your  inmost 
soul,  dear  reader,  my  experience  in  this  regard  is  yours. 

All  of  which  is  strictly  between  ourselves.  I  have 
said  it  hesitatingly,  and  because  I  could  not  help  saying 
it.  My  hope  is  that  it  may  serve  as  a  sort  of  confiden- 
tial link  between  us,  as  we  pass  from  what  I  have  so  far 
said  into  the  more  positive  part  of  what  I  had  in  mind 
to  say  when  I  began  writing  this  book.  If  this  heart  to 
heart  talk  between  us  can  put  us  en  rapport  for  what  all 
I  have  so  far  said  leads  up  to,  then  it  will  have  filled  its 
mission,  and  we  shall  be  in  good  shape  to  enter  upon 
the  consideration  of  the  following  chapters. 


CHAPTER   XII 

SOME  WHYS   AND   WHEREFORES 

A  Foundation  Constructed  —  Brief  Review  of  Points  Made — The 
Purpose  of  Education  —  Relation  of  the  Phenomena  of  "  Short " 
and  "  Long  "  to  Public  School  Issues  —  Newness  of  the  Attempt 
to  educate  Everybody  —  Author's  Recollection  of  its  Early  His- 
tory—  Great  Results  not  to  be  too  soon  looked  for — Review  of 
History  of  Public  Schools  essential  to  Full  Comprehension  of 
their  Present  and  Future  Needs  and  Possibilities  —  Outline  of 
Further  Investigations  and  Studies  Proposed  —  Some  Suggestions 
to  follow. 

Now,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  all  I  have  said,  so  far,  is 
merely  preliminary,  a  sort  of  preface  to  what  I  have  yet 
to  say.  I  admit  that  this  preface  is  long,  for  in  volume 
it  makes  nearly  one  third  of  the  book  I  am  submitting 
to  the  reader ;  but  I  could  not  make  it  shorter  in  view  of 
the  importance  which  the  base  it  forms  bears  to  what 
I  propose  to  build  upon  it. 

There  is  many  a  lighthouse  whose  foundation  is  the 
chief  part  of  the  structure  that  shows  where  danger  lies 
and  points  the  way  of  deliverance  therefrom. 
,  I  believe  that  I  have  demonstrated  that  there  are  such 
phenomena  as  are  defined  by  the  words  "  born  short " 
and  "born  long,"  in  all  materialized  humanity^  and  that 
such  primal  characteristics  have  a  marked  tendency  to 
persist  in  each  individual  life  that  they  are  manifest  in ; 
and,  further,  that  such  conditions  are  positive  factors 
that  ought  to  be  taken  into  account  in  any  righteous 
effort  to  bring  each  individual  to  his  or  her  possible  best. 

109 


no        ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

And  now,  since  it  is  the  avowed  aim  and  purpose  of 
all  education  to  bring  humanity,  individually  and  col- 
lectively, to  its  possible  best ;  and  since,  in  carrying  out 
such  purpose  it  is  essential  that  all  the  factors  that 
have  to  do  with  the  problem  should  be  taken  into  ac- 
count, it  is  strictly  logical  and  practical  to  consider  the 
relation  that  exists  between  the  phenomena  I  have  put 
in  the  foreground  and  an  attempt  to  educate  all  the 
children  of  all  the  people. 

These  statements  square  us  around  and  set  our  faces 
forward  along  the  road  that  we  shall  travel  for  the  rest 
of  the  journey. 

Anent  which,  I  beg  first  to  call  the  attention  of  the 
reader  to  the  newness  or  comparative  recency  of  any 
attempt  to  educate  all  the  children  of  all  the  people.  I 
am  only  a  trifle  past  my  threescore  years,  and  yet  my 
memory  reaches  back  to  the  time  when  there  was  no 
such  possibility  generally  thought  of  in  this  country, 
much  less  attempted.  I  can  well  remember  hearing 
the  feasibility  of  such  an  undertaking  discussed  at  a 
"  teachers'  meeting,"  in  western  Massachusetts,  when  I 
was  a  boy  of  ten.  Horace  Mann  was  the  speaker  of  the 
occasion,  and  though  I  was  but  a  child  when  I  heard  him, 
he  spoke  so  forcibly  that  he  not  only  kept  me  awake  all 
through  his  talk,  but  I  remember  much  of  what  he  said, 
and  I  shall  use  a  part  of  it  before  I  am  done  with  this 
writing. 

About  a  half  century,  then,  is  the  measure  of  all  the 
time  we  have  really  been  working  at  the  problem  of 
universalizing  education,  and  that  is  practically  but  a  few 
minutes  in  the  stretch  of  years  which  it  takes  to  fully 
universalize  anything.  So  we  must  be  as  patient  here 
as  we  are  when  dealing  with  any  other  evolutionary 


SOME  WHYS  AND  WHEREFORES  m 

process.  These  all  work  slowly  and  take  their  own  time 
for  effecting  results. 

Before  any  attempt  is  made  to  suggest  what  ought  to 
be  done  in  any  given  situation,  it  is  not  only  fair,  but 
absolutely  essential  to  justice,  that  there  should  be  a 
thorough  and  comprehensive  knowledge  of  what  the 
situation  really  is,  and  of  how  it  came  to  be  so.  And 
so,  before  proceeding  with  any  suggestions  that  this 
treatise  may  have  to  make  regarding  our  efforts  to 
educate  all  the  children  of  all  the  people,  it  is  necessary 
that  we  review,  quite  thoroughly,  the  history  of  our 
attempts  in  that  direction  to  date;  how  such  attempts 
came  to  be  made ;  what  the  conditions,  intellectual, 
social,  and  economic,  were  at  the  time  the  undertaking 
began ;  what  ideas  prevailed  at  the  outset  of  the  attempt 
regarding  what  constituted  an  education;  what  means 
and  methods  were  reckoned  as  competent  to  produce 
the  ends  aimed  at ;  how  these  means  and  methods  were 
applied,  and  why  just  these  means  and  methods  were 
used  just  as  they  were,  —  with  some  survey  of  the  results 
all  these  things  have  produced. 

And  so  I  shall  honestly  try  to  find  out  somewhere 
near  where  we  are  in  our  thus-far  attempts  to  educate 
all  the  children  of  all  the  people,  and  how  we  have 
come  to  be  in  our  present  status,  before  I  make  any 
suggestions  as  to  what  the  future  may  have  in  store  for 
us  by  way  of  marvel  or  surprise  on  these  counts. 

And  having  done  so  much,  I  hope  to  be  able  to  point 
out  some  of  the  things  it  would  seem  wise  to  do,  all 
these  conditions  being  as  they  are.  All  of  which  will 
make  up  the  sum  and  substance  of  what  the  following 
pages  will  contain. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

BITS  OF  HISTORY 

The  Spirit  of  Democracy  the  Origin  of  the  Attempt  to  universalize 
Education  —  Pioneers  in  the  Cause  —  Caution  to  be  used  in  criti- 
cizing These  —  Horace  Mann  —  His  Purposes  and  Theories  — 
Their  Effect  upon  the  System  of  Schools  he  Inaugurated  — 
"Academies"  and  High  Schools  —  How  Public  High  Schools 
became  "  College  Feeders." 

Beyond  all  question  the  attempt  to  educate  all  the 
children  of  all  the  people  was  grounded  in  a  genuine 
spirit  of  democracy.  Or,  perhaps  mutualness  would  be 
a  better  word  to  express  just  what  the  animating  idea 
was  that  took  form  in  the  effort  to  universalize  educa- 
tion, —  though  I  do  not  find  that  word  in  the  dictionary. 
In  any  event,  the  movement  was  only  one  of  many 
manifestations  of  an  attempt  to  make  general  things 
which,  so  far  in  the  history  of  the  world,  had  been 
special ;  to  have  all  share  in  what,  up  to  that  time,  only 
a  few  had  been  permitted  to  have.  It  was  an  honest 
effort  to  convey  to  the  masses  what  had  heretofore  been 
the  prerogative  of  classes  only. 

The  men  who  fathered  this  idea  and  who  were  the 
immediate  factors  in  its  objective  embodiment  were 
among  the  most  noble  souls  the  world  has  ever  produced. 

Their  ideals  were  God-born,  and  their  efforts  to  realize 
them  are  among  the  highest  that  human  endeavor  has 
ever  put  forth.  Let  these  facts  never  be  forgotten,  for 
they  are  worthy  of  immortal  acknowledgment. 

On  the  other  hand,  experience  in  all  lines  of  life 

112 


BITS  OF  HISTORY 


"3 


proves  that  the  pioneers  in  any  given  enterprise  seldom, 
if  ever,  succeed  in  putting  into  operation  the  best  pos- 
sible methods  of  reaching  their  ideals.  So  many  in- 
stances which  go  to  prove  the  truth  of  this  statement  will 
readily  occur  to  the  reader  that  none  need  be  quoted  here. 

Again,  it  is  not  finding  fault  with  pioneers,  much  less 
condemning  them,  if  those  who  come  after  them  ques- 
tion the  wisdom  of  some  of  the  primary  methods  used 
in  their  first  experimentations.  We  live  in  a  world  of 
progress  and  not  of  finalities ;  and  this  is  specially 
true  with  regard  to  all  means  and  methods  that  are 
used  by  mankind  to  obtain  results.  These  principles 
are  as  true  in  matters  educational  as  they  are  elsewhere. 

I  make  these  remarks  just  here  because,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  conservatism  is  a  little  more  pronounced  in  the 
educational  world  than  in  any  other  sphere  of  life  that 
I  know  about,  unless  it  be  in  the  realm  of  theology. 
"  'Tis  true,  'tis  pity ;  pity  'tis  'tis  true."  And  there  are 
not  wanting  many  good  men  and  true  women  who  feel 
that  if  any  move  is  made  to  change  anything  that  ever 
has  been,  educationally,  such  effort  is  a  slur  upon  the 
past,  and  an  attempt  at  defamation  of  the  characters  of 
the  originators  of  the  things  whose  change  is  afterwards 
sought.     All  of  which  is  wrong. 

I  reverence  the  fathers  of  the  attempt  to  educate  all 
the  children  of  all  the  people  as  much  as  any  one  can. 
So  far  as  the  real,  essential  results  they  desired  to  ac- 
complish are  concerned,  there  is  nothing  left  to  be 
wished  for.  Their  purpose  was  to  bring  every  indi- 
vidual to  his  or  her  possible  best.  If  there  was  a  fault 
anywhere,  it  lay  in  their  conception  of  what  was  the 
possible  best  for  each  individual,  and  of  what  was  the 
best  way  to  attain  such  result. 


114        ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

Now,  look  for  a  moment,  first  at  the  conception  of 
what  constituted  an  education,  or  an  educated  man,  as  it 
obtained  in  the  days  when  the  idea  of  popular  education 
first  came  into  vogue  and  the  first  efforts  were  made  to 
materialize  that  idea. 

Horace  Mann  may  well  be  counted  as  among  one  of 
the  best  of  the  fathers  of  the  original  scheme,  and  he 
had  more  to  do  with  its  early  exploitation  than  any  other 
one  individual  in  this  country.  And  so,  in  considering 
what  he  was,  what  educational  ideas  he  held,  and  how 
he  tried  to  ^establish  ways  and  means  that  would  carry 
out  what  he  believed  to  be  for  the  best  in  the  issues  at 
stake,  we  are  studying  the  whole  group  of  his  coadju- 
tors ;  and  from  his  single  case  we  may  practically  learn 
the  truth  regarding  all  his  colaborers. 

Let  no  one  say  that  I  am  attacking  Horace  Mann  in 
what  I  am  about  to  say.  I  only  use  his  name  and  cite 
his  work  because  they  are  especially  in  point,  and  are 
fair  specimens  of  all  the  beliefs  and  doings  of  all  the 
fathers  of  the  efforts  to  achieve  popular  education. 

Horace  Mann  was  a  classically  educated  scholar,  and 
the  ideas  of  what  constituted  an  educated  man  in  the  age 
in  which  he  lived  were  all  of  the  classical  sort,  as  that 
word  was  interpreted,  educationally,  at  that  time.  To 
say,  then,  that  a  man  was  an  educated  man  was  virtually 
to  say  that  he  was  a  classical  college  graduate,  I  do 
not  complain  of  this,  but  I  beg  to  call  special  attention 
to  it  as  an  undeniable  fact,  for  it  is  the  very  corner  stone 
of  what  all  this  is  leading  up  to. 

Such,  then,  were  the  ideas  of  what  constituted  an 
education,  and  of  who  were  educated  men. 

Now  there  is  no  denying  the  fact  (nor  is  it  strange 
that  the  fact  should  be  as  it  was)  that,  with  these  ideas 


BITS  OF  fflSTORY 


"5 


as  to  what  constituted  an  education  and  as  to  who  were 
educated  men,  the  attempt  to  universalize  education  was 
exploited  with  these  ideas  as  a  basis.  That  is,  the 
attempt,  as  originally  made,  was  to  classically  educate  all 
the  children  of  all  the  people.  Right  there  is  the  very 
beginning,  the  primal  germ  of  what  afterwards  grew  to 
be  the  material  form  of  our  public  school  system  —  of 
what  these  schools  stood  for,  and  of  the  particular 
nature  of  the  output  they  strove  to  produce.  It  goes 
without  saying  that,  for  the  most  part,  this  original  con- 
ception on  these  fundamental  points,  remains,  to  this 
day,  practically  where  it  started. 

I  well  remember  hearing  Mr.  Mann  say,  in  the  ad- 
dress I  have  referred  to :  "  We  will  make  a  system  of 
schools  which  will  render  it  possible  for  every  child, 
rich  or  poor,  to  go  to  college."  (The  reader  will  recall 
the  fact  that  I  have  already  stated  that  I  was  "born 
long  "  on  remembering  and  quoting.  I  would  stake  all 
I  am  worth  on  the  accuracy  of  the  above  quotation, 
though  it  is  more  than  half  a  century  since  I  heard  it.) 

In  that  same  address,  the  speaker  went  on  to  explain 
how  they  would  change  all  the  "Academies,"  which 
were  then  very  numerous  all  through  Massachusetts  and 
in  some  others  of  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States,  into 
"  High  Schools,"  which  all  the  children  should  be  per- 
mitted to  attend,  free.  He  then  told  how  all  the  public 
schools  would  have  their  work  fashioned  relative  to  the 
work  which  would  later  be  done  in  these  High  Schools, 
so  that  the  whole  education  of  all  the  children,  from 
entrance  day  to  graduation,  should  be  fashioned  with  a 
classical  college  education  as  the  ultimate  goal  to  be 
reached  by  all  the  children  of  all  the  people. 

Then  he  dwelt  upon  the  result  of  all  this,  as  he  saw 


Ii6        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

it,  namely,  that  all  these  children,  all  uniformly  educated 
as  he  had  been  educated,  would  be  thoroughly  capable 
of  informing  themselves  well  on  all  questions  and  issues 
of  public  importance;  how  judicially  minded  they  would 
all  be,  because  of  the  training  they  had  all  received  in 
the  higher  realms  of  culture  which  all  would  have  had 
the  benefits  of,  and  so  forth,  and  so  following.  It  was  a 
glorious  picture,  and  I  well  remember  how  my  father, 
who  was  an  Amherst  man,  glowed  with  enthusiasm 
about  it  as  he  talked  all  these  things  over  with  Mr. 
Mann,  who  took  supper  at  our  house  with  the  minister 
and  a  few  teacher  friends  after  the  lecture. 

I  ought  to  add,  too,  that  it  was  because  of  all  these 
great  and  good  civic  results,  which  the  speaker  said 
would  follow  this  universal  dissemination  of  classical 
learning,  that  he  claimed  it  was  right  and  just  to  tax  all 
the  people  for  the  support  of  the  schools  which  were  to 
put  our  entire  population  into  such  prime  condition  for 
good  citizenship.  This  point,  I  remember,  he  urged 
strongly,  owing  to  the  fact  that  it  was  a  rural  New 
England  audience  he  was  addressing,  and  some  of  his 
hearers  were  quite  wealthy  men,  without  children,  and 
these  rather  objected  to  being  taxed  to  pay  for  the  edu- 
cation of  other  people's  offspring.  The  whole  address 
made  a  lasting  impression  upon  me,  as  these  excerpts 
duly  prove. 

Now  it  is  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  to  all  who 
are  even  fairly  well  posted  upon  the  subject,  that  the 
lines  Mr.  Mann  laid  down,  more  than  fifty  years  ago  in 
that  New  England  village,  have  practically  been  followed 
in  the  rise  and  progress  of  our  public  school  system, 
throughout  this  entire  nation.  These  schools  were  all 
exploited  upon  a  classical  college  idea  of  what  consti- 


BITS  OF  HISTORY  1 17 

tutes  an  education,  and  the  possible  entrance  to  a  classi- 
cal college  was  made  the  end  and  aim  of  all  the  work 
that  was  done  in  them,  from  turret  to  foundation  stone, 
or  vice  versa.  As  such  the  work  of  our  public  schools 
was  fashioned,  and  as  such  it  has  been  pursued,  for  the 
most  part,  even  unto  this  day. 

And  so  it  was  that  our  public  schools,  all  of  them, 
from  primary  to  high  school,  were  exploited  with  the 
idea  that  their  chief  function  was  that  of  being  classical 
"college  feeders."  This  was  the  first  step  in  the  par- 
ticular way  in  which  the  attempt  to  educate  all  the 
children  of  all  the  people  was  made.  That  it  was 
honestly  made  there  can  be  no  doubt.  That  those  who 
exploited  the  idea  in  this  particular  fashion  fully  be- 
lieved that  the  method  used  would  yield  the  fruits 
prophesied  is  equally  certain.  The  whole  story  is  only 
a  bit  of  history  that  everybody  should  know  is  true. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

MORE   BITS   OF   HISTORY 

First  Factors  combined  to  solve  the  Universal  Education  Problem 

—  Declaration  of  Independence  —  Locke's  Tabula  Rasa  Theory 

—  What  Man  has  done  Man  can  do  —  The  Military  Spirit  and 
Methods  —  Formulated  Courses  of  Study  —  Times  and  Seasons 
for  Given  Parts  of  the  Same  —  Penalties  for  Failures  to  Tally  — 
Classroom  Methods  used  —  Memory  Culture  and  Memory  Tests 

—  Commencement  —  Accredited  Schools. 

There  were  certain  other  factors  in  the  early  efforts 
to  educate  all  the  children  of  all  the  people  that  must 
be  noted  just  here.  Among  these  were  the  generally 
accepted  psychological  theories  of  the  period  regarding 
the  mental  possibilities  of  humanity ;  and  these  were 
backed  up  and  buttressed  by  the  basic  sociological  pro- 
nouncement of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  which, 
as  popularly  translated,  aided  and  abetted  these  theories 
perfectly.  All  these  elements  were  unified  and  woven 
together  into  a  compact  whole,  and  in  this  shape  they 
were  utilized  as  a  philosophic  basis  for  the  cause  of 
popular  education  to  rest  upon. 

And  here  is  how  the  popular  argument  ran:  The 
Declaration  of  Independence  asserted  that  all  men  were 
created  equal.  The  word  "equal"  meant  alike  —  the 
dictionary  said  so,  and  a  dictionary  is  the  court  from 
which  there  is  no  appeal  when  it  comes  to  telling  what 
words  mean! 

Then  follows  Locke's  tabula  rasa  theory,  to  the  effect 
that  the  mind  of  a  child  is  like  a  white  piece  of  paper 

ii8 


MORE  BITS  OF  HISTORY  1 19 

on  which  can  be  marked  whatever  we  wish.  These  two 
formulas  were  then  logically  joined,  as  follows:  Since 
all  children  are  born  alike,  and  their  minds  are  all  like 
blank  sheets  of  paper  on  which  we  can  mark  whatever 
we  will,  it  follows  that  all  we  have  to  do  is  to  mark  the 
same  things  on  all  children's  minds,  in  exactly  the  same 
way,  and  a  uniform  result  must  be  inevitable. 

Then  followed  another  dogma  which  was  in  harmony 
with  the  foregoing  philosophy,  and  which  was  formu- 
lated in  this  way :  "  What  man  has  done  man  can  do." 
This  was  translated  to  mean  that  what  any  man  ever 
had  done,  any  other  man  (and,  therefore,  every  other 
man)  could  do  if  he  tried  hard  enough  and  worked  at  it 
long  enough. 

(My  father  was  anxious  that  I  should  be  a  good  Latin 
and  Greek  scholar,  and  when  I  was  sweating  blood  to 
get  my  lessons  and  keep  up  with  my  classes  in  these 
studies,  as  I  have  related,  in  response  to  my  tearful  ap- 
peals for  surcease  from  such  sorrow,  he  used  to  say  to 
me  :  "  Persevere,  Willie  !  Edward  Everett  mastered  a 
score  of  languages,  and  if  he  did,  you  can.  Your  mind 
is  just  as  strong  as  his,  if  you  will  only  exercise  it  as  he 
did.  Don't  ever  forget  that  what  man  has  done  man 
can  do !  "  And  my  father  is  not  the  only  man  who  has 
quoted  this  phrase  under  similar  circumstances !) 

There  is  another  factor  that  had  to  do  with  the  ex- 
ploiting of  this  first  attempt  to  generally  disseminate 
classical  college  education  among  the  masses,  which  has 
not  been  generally  recognized,  but  which  was  none  the 
less  potent.  This  is  the  prevalence,  among  all  our 
people,  of  the  military  spirit,  at  just  the  formative  period 
of  our  public  graded  school  system  on  the  basis  outlined 
by  its  founders. 


I20        ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

This  formative  period  came  just  at  the  close  of  our 
Civil  War.  For  four  years  our  whole  population  had 
been  soaked  in  militarism  till  its  spirit  had  permeated 
our  entire  body  politic.  This  is  one  of  the  effects  of 
war  which  is  doubtless  slow  in  manifesting  itself,  but 
which  is  the  most  abiding  of  all  the  evils  that  lurk  in  its 
trail. 

The  essence  of  the  military  spirit  is  compulsion. 
"Theirs  not  to  reason  why,  theirs  but  to  do  and  die" 
tells  the  whole  story. 

And  now  see  what  follows,  as  does  the  night  the  day, 
putting  all  these  facts  and  conditions  together  : 

The  founders  of  our  public  graded  school  system  had 
a  theory  for  its  propagation  which  was  absolutely  fault- 
less, from  a  logical  standpoint.  They  were  so  convinced 
of  its  efficiency,  when  once  it  should  be  established,  that 
they  did  not  hesitate  to  guarantee  the  results  that  would 
surely  follow.  These  results  were  such  as  the  whole 
spirit  of  democracy  had  long  looked  forward  to  eagerly ; 
our  people  were  behind  the  purpose  to  a  man,  and  what 
remained  but  to  put  it  into  operation  ?  And,  in  the 
spirit  of  that  age,  if  it  was  a  good  thing  (and  everybody 
believed  it  was),  why  not  establish  it  by  compulsion? 
So  the  attempt  was  made  to  work  the  plan  by  military 
methods  and  in  that  way  to  compel  its  uniform  accept- 
ance by  all  the  children  of  all  the  people. 

In  accordance  with  such  military  methods  and  usages, 
therefore,  a  plan  of  campaign  was  designed  and  put  into 
operation  which  was  systematic  in  the  utmost  degree. 
The  work  to  be  done  by  each  and  every  pupil  was  out- 
lined with  perfect  minuteness  and  accuracy,  from  enter- 
ing day  to  graduation.  This  work  was  divided  into 
regular  portions  and  sections,  and  a  certain  amount  was 


MORE  BITS  OF  HISTORY  I2i 

to  be  acquired  by  the  pupil  in  certain  times,  this  allot- 
ment sometimes  descending  to  the  details  of  days  and 
hours  of  the  day.  The  plan  was  to  enter  a  class  of  a 
certain  age  in  a  primary  grade,  have  them  all  take  a 
prescribed  amount  of  work  in  a  definitely  fixed  time, 
and  all  come  out,  at  the  end  of  each  and  every  term, 
possessed  of  exactly  the  same  attainments. 

To  compel  such  results,  in  regular  military  fashion, 
penalties  were  fixed  for  all  pupils  who  failed  to  reach 
the  required  standards  in  the  times  named.  Several 
studies  were  included  in  each  period  of  time,  and  if  a 
pupil  failed  to  "  pass  "  in  any  one  of  these  studies,  as  a 
penalty  he  was  compelled  to  go  over  the  work  again, 
not  only  in  the  study  in  which  he  had  failed,  but  in  all 
the  others  which  were  included  in  that  particular  period  ! 
He  must  stay  in  each  "  grade  "  till  all  the  work  of  that 
grade  was  well  and  thoroughly  done,  before  he  could  be 
permitted  to  proceed  with  any  other  work,  further  on  in 
the  uniform  prescribed  "  Course  of  Study."  In  this 
way  pupils  were  not  infrequently  kept  for  several  terms 
in  the  same  room,  going  over  the  same  work  again  and 
again,  until  the  required  uniformity  in  all  the  required 
studies  was  reached.  It  was  held  that  by  this  method 
only  could  symmetry  in  scholarship  and  character  be 
attained.  If  pupils  failed  beyond  a  certain  fixed  limit, 
they  were  dropped  out  of  school  or  expelled. 

And  the  chief  aim  of  all  this  work  was  to  fit  pupils  to 
enter  classical  colleges.  These  institutions  practically 
formulated  the  courses  of  study  which  all  the  children 
were  compelled  to  take  if  they  continued  in  the  public 
schools  at  all.  In  a  word,  the  whole  system  was  faced 
classical-collegeward,  and  it  was  manipulated  almost 
entirely  in  the  interest  of  these  institutions  which  really 


122        ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL   THE  PEOPLE 

dominated  all  the  public  schools  of  all  the  people  in 
this  country. 

Again,  the  technical  classroom  methods  that  were 
used  for  giving  pupils  an  education  at  the  time  the 
public  schools  came  into  being  were  almost  entirely  of 
the  sort  used  in  the  days  when  whatever  was  learned 
had  to  be  "committed  to  memory."  From  what  dim 
past  this  practice  came  can  only  be  surmised;  but  it 
probably  began  as  far  back  as  the  time  when  there  were 
no  books,  when  the  memory  was  the  only  storehouse 
for  the  preservation  of  the  record  of  past  events  and 
of  knowledge  previously  obtained.  In  any  event,  in  the 
early  days  of  public  school  exploitation  the  memory  was 
counted  as  the  chief  factor  to  be  utilized  and  cultivated 
in  «// educational  processes  ;  and  the  selection  of  studies 
to  be  pursued  and  all  the  methods  used  in  classrooms 
were  aimed  in  the  direction  of  cultivating  the  memory. 

As  a  result  of  this,  the  ability  to  reproduce,  by  the 
sole  aid  of  memory,  whatever  had  been  once  learned 
came  to  be  the  test  of  scholarship,  and  the  pupil  who 
could  best  relate  or  write  out  what  his  teacher  had 
asked  him  to  "  commit  to  memory  "  was  counted  the 
best  scholar. 

To  all  this  were  added,  most  naturally,  frequent  written 
examination  tests,  in  which  each  pupil's  work  was  proved 
up  by  his  ability  to  reproduce,  at  the  arm's  length  of 
memory  alone,  any  or  all  the  things  which  had  once  been 
given  into  the  charge  of  this  omnicapacious  receptacle. 

And  this  was  only  in  harmony  with  the  then  accepted 
psychological  theories  regarding  the  memory.  The 
memory  was  then  regarded  as  a  storehouse  which  would 
safely  keep  anything  and  everything  that  was  well 
packed  into  it,  and  it  was  universally  held  by  the  peda- 


MORE  BITS  OF  HISTORY 


123 


gogical  theorists  of  that  time  that  from  such  storehouse 
its  keeper  could  reproduce  any  or  all  of  the  things  com- 
mitted to  it,  instantly,  on  call.  It  was  further  held  that 
the  capacity  of  this  storehouse  could  be  increased  indefi- 
nitely, in  all  directions,  by  proper  exercise  and  training, 
and  the  chief  end  and  aim  of  all  educational  methods 
was  to  augment  its  holding  area  and  the  amount  of 
stuff  it  contained.  All  of  which  it  was  claimed  would 
develop  the  individual  to  his  possible  best  in  every  way, 
—  make  him  a  good  citizen,  soldier,  father,  or  what  not. 

More  than  this,  since  it  was  the  aim  of  all  the  work 
done  in  all  the  schools  through  all  the  grades  as  these 
things  were  first  formulated  to  finally  fit  all  their  products 
for  future  classical  college  work  ;  and  since  it  was  neces- 
sary, before  pupils  could  enter  such  classical  colleges,  that 
their  attainments  at  the  time  of  entrance  be  verified; 
and  since  memory  tests  of  what  had  been  done  were  the 
sole  proofs  relied  on  as  evidence  of  proficiency  in  the 
attainments  required,  —  since  all  these  things  were  so, 
the  ability  to  stand  a  classical  college  entrance  exam- 
ination was  made  the  unswerving  requirement  for 
graduation  from  a  public  high  school. 

And  all  of  this  was  only  in  harmony  with  the  original 
plan,  which  was  to  make  the  public  "high  schools" 
take  the  place  of  the  old  "  Academies "  (whose  sole 
business  it  was  to  fit  pupils  for  classical  college  entrance 
by  a  written  memory-examination  test  of  fitness),  and  to 
make  all  the  grade  schools  below  the  high  schools  tribu- 
tary to  this  ultimate  end;  which  same  it  was  at  first 
supposed  all  the  children  of  all  the  people  could  attain 
to,  according  to  the  logic  which  was  based  on  the  mental 
theories  of  that  time.  Thus  the  whole  scheme  went 
together  as  nicely  as  the  House  that  Jack  Built.    There 


124        ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

is  not  a  break  in  the  logic  of  the  entire  process,  the  fun- 
damental premises  being  admitted. 

Once  more  (for  we  must  trace  this  thread  of  events 
to  the  very  end  it  finally  attained),  the  burden  of 
memory-test  written  examinations  for  classical  college 
entrance  finally  became  too  hard  to  bear,  and  so  Mother 
Necessity  went  to  work  to  find  a  way  of  escape  from 
its  hardships ;  and  she  found  it,  in  the  shape  of  "  Ac- 
credited Schools." 

Dare  I  pause,  just  here,  to  trace  the  way  this  came 
about }     Bear  with  me  a  minute,  I  will  be  brief. 

Did  you  ever  stop  to  think  why  it  is  that  the  last  day  of  a 
year's  school  work  is  called  "  Commencement "  ?  There's 
a  reason  !  As  things  used  to  be  in  classical  colleges,  where 
the  name  and  custom  originated,  this  was  the  day  for  the 
examination  of  new  pupils  for  the  coming  term,  the  en- 
trance day  for  the  "freshman  class"  for  the  next  year. 
To  attract  as  many  new  students  as  possible  (for  students 
had  to  be  drummed  up  when  there  were  only  the  tuition 
academies  to  furnish  them)  the  college  graduating  class 
of  the  just-ending  year  was  brought  out  and  exploited 
and  paraded  to  a  degree,  so  that  the  on-coming  youngsters 
might  see  what  they  themselves  might  some  day  become. 
And  on  this  day  all  the  new  students  were  examined  for 
college  entrance !  It  was  a  day  of  joy  for  the  out-goers, 
of  dread  for  the  in-comers. 

And  very  shrewd  all  this  was  —  this  examination  of 
freshmen  from  the  academies  just  at  this  time;  because 
college  commencement  time  came  just  at  the  time  the 
academies  closed  their  season's  work  !  These  academy 
pupils  were  all  fresh  from  the  studies  they  had  been  at 
work  memorizing  through  the  previous  fall,  winter,  and 
spring  ;  and  the  time  to  examine  them  and  not  have  them 


MORE  BITS  OF  HISTORY 


125 


"  flunk  "  was  before  they  "  got  rusty  "  !  Many  of  our 
fathers  were  very  wise  men  ! 

And  then,  after  a  while,  the  colleges  became  anxious 
to  draw  pupils  from  greater  distances.  It  costs  money 
to  travel  far,  and  many  pupils  were  too  poor  to  make  a 
special  trip  over  a  long  way  just  to  "  enter  college,"  and 
then  go  back  home  again  and  wait  three  months  when 
they  must  make  another  long  journey  to  take  up  their 
college  work.  All  of  which  resulted  in  the  colleges 
delegating  to  certain  schools  the  right  to  examine  pupils 
for  entrance  to  their  institutions  and  of  certifying  the 
same,  these  colleges  agreeing  to  take  such  certificates  in 
lieu  of  their  own  entrance  examinations.  This  way  of 
doing  worked  for  a  while,  till,  finally,  the  colleges  agreed 
to  take  the  diplomas  of  certain  high  schools  as  evidence 
of  the  fitness  of  the  pupils  who  held  them  to  enter  upon 
collegiate  work. 

High  schools  whose  diplomas  will  be  so  accepted  by 
colleges  are  now  called  "  Accredited  Schools,"  and  for 
several  years  it  has  been  the  highest  ambition  of  practi- 
cally all  the  high  schools  in  this  country  to  become 
accredited  schools  with  as  large  a  number  of  colleges 
as  possible.  For  so  are  their  graduates  relieved  from  the 
terrors  of  a  written  memory-test  examination  of  fitness  to 
enter  college.  And  the  high  school  which  can  present 
the  largest  list  of  colleges  which  will  accept  its  diplomas 
in  lieu  of  entrance  examination  is  counted  the  best  high 
school,  the  country  over.     And  that  is  that  story. 

Then  came  the  increased  demands  of  the  colleges  for 
larger  and  more  comprehensive  "entrance  require- 
ments." These  have  been  augmented,  from  time  to 
time,  till  both  high  school  teachers  and  pupils  have  been 
extra-heavily  loaded  by  burdens  they  have  been  asked 


126        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

to  bear  for  this  cause.  Sometimes  these  demands 
have  been  exceedingly  dictatorial  and  exacting.  It  is 
only  a  few  days  since  the  principal  of  one  of  the  best 
high  schools  in  our  state  showed  me  a  letter  from  a 
college  which  read,  "  If  we  continue  longer  to  accept 
your  diplomas  as  certificates  for  admission  to  our  insti- 
tution, you  must  add  so  and  so  to  your  course."  And 
the  principal  said  he  should  have  to  stand  for  it;  that 
his  patrons  would  never  permit  him  to  lower  the  stand- 
ard of  their  high  school ;  that  they  were  too  proud  to 
admit  that  there  could  be  any  better  high  school  than 
theirs  ;  that  their  sons  and  daughters  must  have  a  right 
to  the  best,  no  matter  how  hard  it  had  to  be  worked  for, 
or  what  conditions  were  made  for  its  attainment ! 

With  which  statement  of  facts  that  are  almost  uni- 
versal in  this  country  to-day,  I  close  the  second  bit  of 
history. 


CHAPTER   XV 

SOME   RESULTS 

Original  Methods  still  used  in  Most  Public  Schools  —  Some  Excep- 
tions noted  —  Graduation  Day  Experiences  —  Small  Graduating 
Classes  —  Reasons  for  this  —  Over-age  Pupils  in  Lower  Grades 
—  Attendance  in  First  and  Second  Year  High  School  Classes 
compared  —  Latin  and  Algebra  as  "  Knockouts  "  for  Crowds  of 
Children  —  Statistics  in  point  —  "  Laggards  in  our  Schools  "  — 
Leonard  P.  Ayres'  Conclusions  —  Report  of  United  States  Bureau 
of  Education  —  Illinois  Reports  —  Galesburg,  Illinois,  Report  — 
Some  Deductions  —  Some  Conclusions. 

Such,  then,  is  a  brief  review  of  what  and  how  the  at- 
tempt has  been  made  in  this  country  to  educate  all  the 
children  of  all  the  people.  For  about  half  a  century 
the  enterprise  has  been  exploited  almost  wholly  on  the 
original  lines,  and  for  the  most  part  the  work  is  still 
carried  on  as  it  was  primarily  undertaken.  Here  and 
there,  in  a  few  large  cities  and  in  an  occasional  town  or 
rural  school,  efforts  have  been  made  to  improve  some- 
what on  the  original  plan ;  but  the  vast  majority  of  our 
public  schools,  as  they  are  conducted  at  this  moment, 
are  still  moving  on  the  lines  of  their  primal  projection. 
This  is  specially  true  of  the  schools  in  towns  and  cities 
of  moderate  size,  those  of  say  5000  inhabitants  or 
below.  In  almost  every  one  of  these  the  ambition  still 
is  to  have  their  high  school  "  accredited " ;  Latin, 
always,  and  sometimes  Greek,  ancient  history,  algebra, 
geometry,  classical  literature,  and  a  few  terms  in  the 
sciences,  which  are  chiefly  taught  by  memoriter  methods 

127 


128        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

—  these,  in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  constitute  the 
uniform  and  inflexible  course  of  study  of  these  schools, 
and  all  graduates  are  required  to  qualify  in  these  studies 
if  they  receive  diplomas.  In  these  schools  the  rule  is, 
"  take  these  studies  if  you  stay  in  school  at  all." 

In  saying  this,  I  speak  from  a  large  experience  which 
I  have  gathered  from  visiting  schools  of  this  class  in  a 
great  majority  of  states  in  the  Union.  For  the  past 
fifteen  years  I  have  had  occasion  to  travel  through 
these  states,  and  to  visit  cities  and  towns  of  the  classes 
referred  to,  and  wherever  I  have  gone  I  have  made  it  a 
point  to  visit  the  schools  and  carefully  observe  the  work 
done  in  them.  Add  to  this  the  fact  that  for  the  past  ten 
years  I  have  made  from  a  dozen  to  twenty  "  graduating 
addresses "  every  season,  and  that  these  have  been 
given  in  all  parts  of  the  country  east  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  a  fact  that  has  put  me  in  close  touch  with 
the  actual  output  of  these  schools,  and  the  reader  will 
see  that  I  have  had  a  good  opportunity  to  know  what  I 
am  talking  about. 

Further,  everywhere  that  I  have  made  a  graduating 
address,  I  have  made  it  a  point  to  inquire  about  the  di- 
plomas that  were  granted,  what  requirements  they  called 
for,  and  what  purpose  they  would  serve.  And  it  has 
been  a  rare  thing  for  me  to  find  an  exception  to  the 
"  regular  rule  "  I  have  noted  in  this  chapter.  In  nearly 
every  case,  the  high  school  was  "  accredited " ;  the 
diploma  would  admit  to  one  or  more  colleges,  all 
diplomas  were  uniform,  and  no  pupils  were  permitted 
to  graduate  who  had  not  met  their  requirements. 

Occasionally  I  have  found  a  school  where  this  rigorous 
method  did  not  obtain,  but  such  have  been  rare.  I 
recall  one  school,  where  diplomas  of  two  or  more  kinds 


SOME  RESULTS 


129 


were  awarded,  one  sort  to  the  regular  classical  students, 
and  another  to  those  who  had  taken  a  "  mixed  course." 
In  this  school  the  students  who  received  classical 
diplomas  were  dressed  in  cap  and  gown,  and  sat  on  the 
platform  during  the  graduation  exercises.  The  other 
graduates  were  clad  in  their  best  clothes  only,  and  sat 
at  the  side  of  the  platform,  apparently  as  a  sign  that 
they  were  not  worthy  of  the  high  calling  to  which  their 
classical  mates  had  attained.  I  merely  mention  this 
case  in  passing.  Let  the  reader  think  of  what  it  stands 
for,  and  form  his  own  conclusions. 

As  I  review  these  various  "  commencements  "  which 
I  have  attended,  and  think  of  the  size  of  the  classes  that 
have  been  graduated  on  these  occasions,  and  compared 
these  with  the  entering  classes  of  which  these  graduates 
were  a  part,  I  have  been  struck,  time  and  again,  with  a 
fact  that  is  exceedingly  significant  when  viewed  from 
the  standpoint  of  an  attempt  to  educate  all  the  children 
of  all  the  people.  This  is  what  these  schools  have  been 
honestly  trying  to  do,  and  it  is  not  unfair  to  look  upon 
these  graduating  classes  as  a  just  measure  of  how  well 
they  have  succeeded  in  this  endeavor.  The  original 
plan,  as  outlined  by  Horace  Mann,  was  to  have  all  who 
entered  these  schools  graduate  therefrom.  Because  it 
was  supposed  this  could  be  done,  it  was  claimed  that  it 
was  right  to  tax  all  the  people,  that  all  their  children 
might  compass  this  greatly-to-be-desired  accomplish- 
ment, I  doubt  if  the  classes  I  have  seen  graduate  would 
average  ten  per  cent  of  the  enrollment  of  their  entering 
classes  in  the  primary  rooms.  And  the  question  is. 
Where  are  the  other  ninety  per  cent.**  Why  are  they 
not  in  their  places  on  graduation  day }  What  is  the 
cause  of  this  great  faUing  off  in  the  membership  of  the 


130        ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE   PEOPLE 

classes  as  the  years  of  school-  life  have  passed  by  ? 
These  are  fair  questions,  and  pertinent  as  well. 

Of  course,  some  of  each  original  class  are  dead. 
Some  have  moved  away ;  but  the  towns  in  which  the 
members  of  these  classes  lived  have  been  growing  towns, 
and  where  some  have  moved  away,  others  have  come  to 
take  their  places,  enough  to  make  the  loss  from  this 
cause  good,  if  that  were  the  real  reason  for  the  decline 
in  class  numbers. 

But  there  is  no  need  of  beating  about  the  bush,  when 
the  real  reason  for  this  decline  is  well  known  by  all 
who  are  acquainted  with  the  facts  in  the  case.  The 
simple  truth  is  that  the  vast  majority  of  the  pupils  who 
have  dropped  out  of  school  as  the  years  of  school  life 
came  and  went,  have  done  so  because  they  could  not, 
or  at  least  did  not,  do  the  work  which  it  was  required 
they  should  do  if  they  stayed  in  school  at  all.  At  every 
grade  examination  there  have  been  numbers  of  failures 
to  "pass,"  with  consequent  stay-where-you-are-and-do-it- 
«//-over-again,  or  "demotion,"  results.  Some  of  these 
pupils  who  have  failed  to  pass  stay  where  they  are  for 
a  term  or  two,  or  a  year  or  two,  but  the  vast  majority 
of  them  drop  out,  and  "  that's  the  reason,"  the  real  reason, 
for  the  thinning  ranks  of  classes  as  they  go  up  the  grades. 
Everybody  knows  that  it  is  a  basic  truth  I  am  telling. 

A  high  school  principal  in  one  of  the  best  schools  of 
this  class  in  his  state  told  me  that  for  ten  years  an 
average  of  only  about  forty  per  cent  of  each  entering 
class  had  continued  till  graduation  day.  Sixty  per  cent 
of  the  entering  grammar  school  graduates  were  down 
and  out  of  school  before  they  should  have  been.  I 
asked  him  if  there  was  anything  like  a  uniformity  of 
cause  for  this  falling  off  at  the  end  of  the  first  year, 


SOME  RESULTS 


131 


and  he  told  me  that  most  of  such  pupils  "  failed  in  Latin 
or  algebra,  or  both !  "  And  that  is  something  to  think 
about.  For  I  am  persuaded  that  this  principal's  ex- 
perience is  above  the  average,  in  the  number  of  pupils 
he  retains,  for  he  is  a  most  excellent  teacher,  one  of  the 
best.  The  fault  is  deeper  seated  than  the  personality 
of  the  teacher,  however,  and  we  all  know  what  it  is. 

And  of  those  who  stay  and  go  over  the  work  again 
and  again  in  the  grades,  we  all  know  that  little  good 
comes  from  such  procedure.  Such  pupils  wear  the 
life  out  of  their  teachers  and  themselves,  and  all  to 
small  avail.  One  can  "spot"  these  pupils  as  soon  as 
one  enters  any  grade  schoolroom  in  the  country.  They 
are  several  sizes  too  large  for  the  seats  they  occupy, 
and  are  heads  taller  and  pounds  heavier  than  the  chil- 
dren they  have  to  recite  with.  The  schools  contain 
many  such,  "from  Maine  to  California  and  from  the 
Lakes  to  the  Gulf."  Superintendent  Maxwell  of  New 
York  made  a  report,  not  long  ago,  to  the  effect  that  a 
large  percentage  of  the  pupils  in  the  schools  of  that 
city  are  from  one  to  three  grades  below  where  they 
should  be  if  they  had  kept  pace  with  the  classes  in 
which  they  started,  and  since  his  report  was  made 
numberless  similar  reports,  from  all  over  this  country, 
reveal  the  fact  that  his  experience  is  not  unique. 

(I  have  a  school  superintendent  friend  who  is  a  good 
deal  of  a  wag,  and  he  said  to  me  one  day,  "  The  only 
sensible  way  to  grade  a  school  is  according  to  size ! " 
He  was  not  wholly  right,  but  there  is  much  pertinency 
in  his  remark.  Anyhow,  this  thing  is  true,  that  when 
there  are  such  overgrown  and  over-age  children,  in 
any  considerable  number,  in  our  schoolrooms  it  is  cer- 
tain that  something  is  wrong  somewhere.) 


132        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

Just  what  the  actual  conditions  are,  in  detail,  on  this 
point,  take  the  country  over,  it  is  difficult  to  determine 
with  absolute  accuracy.  Reliable  statistics  are  very 
difficult  to  obtain,  though  it  would  seem  as  though  they 
ought  to  be  easily  procured.  Extended  and  ably  con- 
ducted efforts  have  many  times  been  made  to  secure 
definite  data  in  these  premises,  but  the  results  are  far 
from  satisfactory.  Foremost  among  such  investigations 
is  that  conducted  by  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation,  the 
results  of  which  have  been  ably  compiled  by  Leonard 
P.  Ayres,  A.M.,  under  the  title  of  "Laggards  in  Our 
Schools,"  a  book  that  every  teacher  ought  to  be  familiar 
with.  It  would  be  interesting  to  quote  at  length  from 
this  and  other  similar  reports,  but  space  will  not  permit. 
Enough  to  say  that  Mr.  Ayres  concludes  that  only  about 
twelve  per  cent  of  all  our  children  who  enter  the  public 
schools  remain  in  them  till  they  are  sixteen  years  old, 
and  even  this  remnant  is  still  further  depleted  in  the 
two  remaining  years  of  public  school  life. 

Some  fair  idea  of  the  situation  can  doubtless  be 
gathered  by  noting  certain  facts  set  down  in  some  of 
the  educational  reports  referred  to.  Thus,  in  the  Report 
of  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education  on  Secondary 
Schools  for  the  year  1910,  Chapter  XXV,  it  is  stated 
that  the  total  enrollment  in  all  the  public  high  schools 
of  this  country  for  the  year  1909-19 10  was  915,061. 
The  total  number  of  graduates  for  the  same  year  was 
111,363;  and  the  total  number  of  graduates  who  were 
prepared  to  enter  college  for  that  year  is  given  as  37,81 1. 

I  have  been  unable  to  find  the  total  enrollment  in 
all  the  public  schools  in  the  United  States  for  the 
year  1909-1910,  but  for  the  year  1908-1909,  it  was 
17,506,175;   and  according  to  the  ratio  of  increase  in 


SOME  RESULTS 


133 


previous  years  it  is  safe  to  say  that  approximately 
18,000,000  children  were  enrolled  in  all  the  public 
schools  in  this  country  in  1 909-1910.  Assuming  this 
to  be  fairly  correct,  it  appears  that  of  the  18,000,000 
of  children  attending  school  on  any  given  day  of  that 
year,  915,061,  or  about  50  in  1000,  were  in  the  high 
school;  and  of  these,  111,363,  or  about  6  in  1000,  of  the 
entire  enrollment  graduated;  while  37,811,  or  about  2 
in  1000,  of  the  entire  enrollment  held  diplomas  which 
would  entitle  them  to  enter  college. 

In  the  state  of  Illinois,  conditions  are  considerably 
better  on  these  points  than  in  the  country  at  large,  as, 
indeed,  they  ought  to  be.  In  the  report  of  the  Educa- 
tional Department  of  that  state  for  the  year  just  noted, 
1909-1910,  the  entire  enrollment  in  all  the  public  schools 
of  the  state  is  given  as  1,002,687,  of  which  63,392  were 
in  the  high  schools,  while  8137  graduated.  Using  the 
same  method  of  comparison  employed  in  considering  all 
the  schools  in  this  country,  as  noted  in  the  previous  par- 
agraph, these  figures  mean  that,  in  Illinois,  of  all  the 
pupils  attending  school  on  a  given  day,  63  in  1000  are 
in  the  high  schools  and  8  in  1000  graduate. 

In  the  city  of  Galesburg,  Illinois,  whose  schools  I 
shall  refer  to  later,  the  entire  enrollment  for  the  year 
1909-1910  was  3814,  of  which  ^67  were  in  the  high 
school,  and  1 1 5  graduated.  These  figures  mean  that, 
on  any  given  day,  200  pupils  to  each  1000  enrolled 
were  in  the  high  schools  of  that  city;  and  30  in  each 
1000  enrolled  graduated.  Or,  to  put  the  foregoing 
figures  into  another  form,  which  may  make  their  signifi- 
cance somewhat  clearer  (my  desire  is  to  be  perfectly  fair 
in  this  matter)  let  them  be  looked  at  as  follows :  — 

In  the  regular  order  of  the  public  school  curriculum 


134        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

the  time  extent  of  a  complete  course  of  study,  from  pri- 
mary entrance  to  graduation  day,  occupies  twelve  years, 
four  of  which  are  allotted  to  the  high  school ;  that  is, 
one  third  of  a  pupil's  complete  public  school  life  is  spent 
in  this  department;  and  if  all  the  children  who  enter 
school  were  to  live  and  complete  the  entire  course,  one 
third  of  the  entire  school  enrollment  would  be  in  the 
high  schools. 

But,  as  already  noted,  death  and  other  unavoidable 
destructive  forces  naturally  reduce  the  ranks  of  the  pu- 
pils as  they  advance  through  the  grades,  so  that  it  is 
only  just  to  discount  the  possible  attendance  in  the  four 
upper  grades  a  decided  per  cent.  Making  such  allow- 
ance, it  is  surely  within  bounds  to  say  that  at  least 
5,cxX),ooo  of  the  18,000,000  children  enrolled  in  the 
public  schools  should  be  alive  and  in  the  high  schools, 
if  these  schools  had  their  proportionate  share  of  the  total 
enrollment,  based  on  the  amount  of  time  that  they  require 
for  their  work.  The  statistics  quoted  show  915,067,  or 
not  quite  one  in  five  of  the  ultimate  possibility. 

Seen  from  a  similar  viewpoint,  since  the  high  school 
course  occupies  four  years,  we  might  expect  out  of  a 
possible  5,000,000  high  school  enrollment,  after  making 
the  required  reductions,  at  least  1,000,000  graduates  each 
year.  We  do  have  1 1 1,363.  And  since  almost  the  whole 
purpose  and  endeavor  of  the  entire  pubUc  school  curric- 
ulum, through  all  the  grades,  is  to  produce  graduates 
fitted  to  enter  college,  it  is  surely  not  extravagant  to 
assume  that  a  majority  of  those  so  planned  for  and 
wrought  upon  should  leave  school  so  prepared  —  that 
is,  we  ought  to  have  at  least  upwards  of  500,000  pubUc 
school  graduates  holding  college  entrance  diplomas  each 
year.     We  do  have  37,811. 


SOME  RESULTS 


135 


The  score  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  measured  by  the 
same  rule,  would  show  that,  out  of  a  total  enrollment  of 
1 ,002,687,  about  200,000  ought  to  be  in  the  high  school, 
and  the  yearly  graduating  roll  ought  to  be  not  far  from 
80,000.  The  high  schools  of  that  state  had  an  attend- 
ance of  63,392  and  graduated  8137  in  the  year  1909- 
1910. 

Measured  in  the  same  way,  the  Galesburg,  111.,  schools 
with  a  total  enrollment  of  3814  ought  to  have  about 
1000  in  the  high  school,  and  graduate  about  200  each 
year.  Their  record  for  the  year  1 909-1910  shows  767  in 
the  high  school,  with  115  graduates  for  that  year.  For 
the  five  years  ending  June,  1910,  this  school  had  an 
average  of  125  graduates  for  each  year. 

A  comparison  of  these  figures  shows  that  in  the  matter 
of  enrollment,  the  high  schools  of  this  country,  as  a 
whole,  have  acquired  about  20  per  cent  of  possible  effi- 
ciency, those  of  the  State  of  Illinois  about  35  per  cent,  and 
those  of  Galesburg,  111.,  about  65  per  cent.  Compared 
as  to  output  of  graduates,  counting  those  of  all  sorts, 
the  whole  country  has  reached  a  point  of  about  10  per 
cent  of  efficiency,  the  State  of  Illinois  about  the  same, 
and  the  Galesburg  schools  about  6"]  per  cent  for  the 
past  five  years.  The  data  furnished  offer  no  means  of 
comparing  the  number  of  college-diploma  graduates  in 
the  different  schools  I  have  mentioned. 

Perhaps  I  ought  to  say  that  I  have  mentioned  the 
Galesburg  schools  for  two  reasons:  first,  I  happen  to 
know  about  them ;  and,  second,  they  give  a  practical 
demonstration  of  what  has  been  attained  by  the  applica- 
tion, in  a  measure  at  least,  of  the  principles  and  methods 
advocated  in  this  treatise,  as  I  shall  show  later.  Doubt- 
less there  are  other  schools  in  this  country  that  can 


136        ALL  THE   CHILDREN   OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

show  as  good,  or  perhaps  a  better,  record  than  this  school 
presents.  I  hope  there  are  many  such.  The  thing  to 
labor  for  is  to  bring  all  our  schools  to  even  a  greater 
degree  of  efficiency  than  any  have  yet  attained. 

Here  is  another  significant  fact,  which  I  take  from 
the  United  States  Bureau  of  Education  Report,  before 
referred  to.  In  Table  "  A  "  of  the  report,  the  percentage 
of  pupils  in  public  high  schools  preparing  for  college  is 
given,  for  a  term  of  years,  namely,  from  1 889-1 890  to 
1909-1910.  This  table  seems  to  show  a  steady  decline 
of  the  comparative  number  of  students  preparing  for 
college,  in  that  the  percentage  given  for  the  year  1889- 
1890  is  14.44,  while  for  the  year  1909-1910  it  is  but  5.57. 
And  the  record  between  these  two  dates  shows  a  steady 
and  quite  regular  falling  off  between  the  two  percent- 
ages quoted.  That  is,  it  would  seem  from  these  figures 
that  a  smaller  and  smaller  part  of  all  the  children  of  all 
the  people  are  each  year  preparing  to  enter  college,  and 
yet  this  diminishing  factor  still  controls  the  courses  of 
study  for  all  attendants  of  the  pubHc  schools. 

Now  I  am  well  aware  that  statistics  are  often  mislead- 
ing, but  it  is  surely  fair  to  point  out  the  fact  that  the 
figures  quoted  show  that  only  a  small  portion  of  all  the 
children  of  all  the  people  attending  school  on  a  given 
day  are  among  those  who  complete  the  entire  school 
course,  while  a  much  smaller  portion  are  fitted  to  enter 
college.  And  yet  the  fact  remains,  which  I  have  so 
often  stated,  that  the  great  bulk  of  the  courses  of  study 
used  in  our  public  schools  are  planned,  from  primary 
entrance  to  graduation  day,  as  if  every  pupil  were  to  be 
fitted  for  college.     There's  the  rub. 

Many  of  my  readers  will  shake  their  heads  over  these 
statements,  and  perhaps  some  of  them  will  rub  their 


SOME  RESULTS 


137 


eyes,  not  to  say  "  sit  up  and  take  notice,"  But  I  believe 
all  the  record  I  have  given  is  practically  true  to  present 
conditions,  no  matter  what  we  may  wish  about  it.  Ver- 
bum  sat ! 

But  if  one  doubts  what  has  been  stated,  here  is 
another  good  way  to  prove  existing  conditions  from 
the  other  end  of  the  line,  as  it  were,  one  which  can  be 
easily  tried  by  people  who  are  curious  in  these  affairs : 
Go  through  a  train  of  cars  on  almost  any  railroad  in 
this  country,  and  ask  every  adult  passenger,  man  or 
woman,  "  Are  you  a  college  graduate  ? "  and  see  what 
per  cent  of  affirmative  answers  you  will  get.  Of  course 
the  record  will  vary  greatly  in  different  parts  of  the 
country,  and  on  different  trains  of  cars.  A  train  com- 
posed entirely  of  "  Pullmans  "  would  yield  a  much  larger 
per  cent  of  yes's  than  would  one  of  "day  coaches"  only. 
This  goes  without  saying.  But  a  fair  average  would 
not  be  hard  to  find,  and  such  average  train  would  yield 
results  that  would  be  quite  directly  in  point. 

Or,  go  along  any  city  street  that  is  a  thoroughfare 
for  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men  and  women,  such  as 
Broadway,  New  York;  Washington  Street,  Boston,  or 
State  Street,  Chicago,  and  ask  every  adult  person  who 
passes  you  in  a  "  rush  hour,"  the  question  noted  in  the 
previous  paragraph,  and  see  what  per  cent  of  affirma- 
tive answers  you  will  get.  To  be  sure,  such  a  proof 
would  not  be  wholly  satisfactory,  but  it  would  certainly 
be  a  significant  "  pointer." 

Not  to  push  the  proofs  further,  it  is  evident  to  all 
thoughtful  people  that  only  a  very  small  percentage  of 
all  the  children  of  all  the  people  ever  graduate  from 
college  ;  and  it  is  equally  clear  that  it  is  not  fair  to  hold 
up  to  college-entrance  requirements  all  the  children  who 


138        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

never  will  even  enter  one  of  these  institutions,  for  the 
sake  of  those  who  do  or  can  use  such  educational  ways 
and  means.     This  is  the  crux  of  the  whole  situation. 

And  so  it  turns  out  that,  if  the  classical  idea  of  what 
constitutes  an  educated  man  is  to  prevail  as  a  test  of 
what  our  public  schools  have  so  far  done,  our  attempts 
to  educate  all  the  children  of  all  the  people  have  not 
yielded,  so  far,  the  results  its  promoters  hoped  for, 
planned  for,  and  honestly  expected.  That  is  certainly 
not  an  extravagant  statement  to  make  at  the  end  of  our 
fifty  years  of  trial  of  the  means  and  methods  we  have 
used  for  that  period  of  time.  This  is  a  matter  of  com- 
mon knowledge,  and  it  is  only  a  truism  to  make  the 
remark.     Yet  it  needs  to  be  made. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

WHAT   IS   WRONG   IN  ALL  THIS? 

Grounds  for  Criticism  studied  —  Chief  Causes  of  Failure  stated  — 
Personal  Equation  neglected  —  Uniform  Methods  not  suited  to 
Wide-varying  Conditions  —  New  Factors  in  the  Modern  Educa- 
tional Problem  —  Machinery — Scientific  Thought  —  Democracy 
—  Extension  of  the  Field  of  Knowledge  —  Impossibility  of  Any 
One  Mind  compassing  all  the  Now-known  —  The  Rights  of  the 
"  Bom  Short "  under  these  Conditions. 

Criticism  is  never  a  pleasant  task,  and  that  is  doubly 
the  case  when  a  popular  idea  or  institution  is  brought 
into  question.  The  public  school  system  of  this  country 
has  been,  and  is,  exceedingly  popular  among  nearly  all 
classes  of  our  people,  and  to  put  an  interrogation  mark 
before  any  of  its  ways  is  really  an  act  to  be  shunned  if  it 
could  rightly  be  avoided.  But  what  I  have  shown  in 
the  foregoing  pages  is  evidence  that  I  have  not  orig- 
inated, and  that  I  am  not  responsible  for.  If  that  evi- 
dence reveals  the  fact  that  our  public  schools  are  not 
doing  what  it  was  supposed  and  promised  they  would 
do ;  if  they  are  not  educating  all  the  children  of  all  the 
people  as  it  was  declared  they  would  when  all  the  people 
consented  to  be  taxed  for  their  support,  —  then  it  is  only 
just  to  urge  that  they  "make  good,"  and  to  inquire 
wherein  and  why  they  have  failed  to  reach  the  high 
mark  they  were  set  to  attain. 

Now,  in  view  of  what  has  been  said  up  to  this  line, 
it  must  be   very   evident   as   to  where   some   of   the 

139 


I40  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

trouble  lies.  My  belief  is  that  the  chief  cause  of  the 
inability  to  show  results  commensurate  with  the  hopes  of 
those  who  exploited  the  plan  of  universalizing  education 
in  this  country  lies  in  the  failure  of  the  founders  of  the 
public  school  system  to  realize  the  natures  and  kinds  of 
material  they  had  to  deal  with  in  their  undertaking. 
Their  theories  regarding  the  possibilities  of  the  human 
mind,  as  it  is  embodied  in  different  individual  men, 
women,  and  children,  did  not  tally  with  the  facts  in  the 
case.  Practically,  they  made  no  allowance  for  the  per- 
sonal equation  in  the  problem  —  an  item  which  must  be 
reckoned  with  by  any  system  or  device  that  attempts  to 
deal  with  individual  humanity.  They  took  no  account  of 
the  ^^ short''  and  ^^ long''  qualities  embodied  in  the  chil- 
dren whose  development  they  undertook  to  manage,  factors 
which  form  the  chief  attributes  that  must  be  considered 
in  any  successful  attempt  to  bring  individuals  to  their 
possible  best.  These  fundamental  elements,  in  all  chil- 
dren, were  denied  or  ignored,  almost  absolutely,  in  the 
original  fashioning  of  our  public  school  system. 

Again,  the  matter  to  be  taught  and  the  methods  of 
teaching  the  same  that  were  utilized  as  a  means  of  edu- 
cating all  the  children  of  all  the  people  were  never 
designed  for,  or  suited  to,  any  such  general  and  wide- 
spread purpose.  Both  were  originally  planned  and  ex- 
ploited to  fit  a  few  of  the  children  of  a  few  of  the  people 
for  a  few  stations  of  life.  The  whole  appliance  was 
primarily  worked  out  to  suit  the  needs  of  certain  classes 
of  people,  whose  best  interests  were  served  thereby; 
and  it  was  assumed  that  this  same  appliance  would  meet 
the  multitudinous  wants  of  the  masses  of  children  and 
people  such  as  our  country  now  has.  That  is,  a  special 
appliance  was  used  to  achieve  a  universal  result,  and  the 


WHAT  IS  WRONG  IN  ALL  THIS?  141 

machine  was  not  able  to  produce  the  output  required 
of  it. 

If  this  assertion  needs  detailed  corroboration,  be  it 
said  that  the  chief  function  of  the  system  of  education 
which  was  fastened  upon  the  public  schools  of  this 
country  was  originally  intended  to  make  book-learned 
men  —  clergymen,  doctors,  lawyers,  teachers,  and  to 
give  a  scholarly  adornment  to  the  sons  of  gentlemen 
who  had  money  enough  so  that  they  would  never  have 
to  earn  anything  more,  surely  not  by  the  work  of  their 
own  hands.  The  system  grew  up  and  was  developed 
across  the  water.  In  process  of  time  it  was  duly  im- 
ported and  established  in  this  country  through  the  media 
of  the  classical  colleges  which  were  founded  here  to  prop- 
agate the  cult  from  which  they  sprung.  These  are  brief 
and  truthful  statements  of  well-known  facts.  Is  it  any 
wonder  that  the  denouement  proved  that  the  means 
adopted  were  inadequate  to  the  ends  to  be  attained.'' 

Again,  since  the  inauguration  of  the  methods  used  in 
our  public  schools,  three  important  factors  have  come 
into  our  national  life,  social,  mental,  and  political,  which 
were  wholly  unknown  when  the  system  was  originally 
set  up.  These  are  the  universal  use  of  machinery,  the 
positive  revelations  of  modern  science,  and  a  conglom- 
erate democracy  such  as  the  world  never  before  saw. 
Any  one  of  these  three  might  well  overthrow  all  previous 
conditions  of  human  life  and  its  environment.  "What 
this  potent  trinity,  taken  together,  has  done,  and  what 
their  combined  product  renders  needful  to  be  done  to- 
day, is  almost  beyond  computation.  It  is  only  a  truism 
to  say  that  these  three  forces  are  the  chief  constituents 
in  the  lives  of  all  our  people,  individually  and  collec- 
tively, at  this  moment.     Indeed,  they  are  so  important 


142        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

that  a  brief  review  of  their  relation  to  modern  hfe  and 
education  must  be  given  here  and  now. 

As  to  machinery,  it  has  revolutionized  the  domestic 
life  of  all  our  people.  On  the  feminine  side  see  what 
it  has  done  within  the  memory  of  one  no  older  than  I 
am.  My  grandmother  sheared  sheep,  carded  wool,  spun 
yarn,  wove  cloth.  My  mother  could  spin  and  knit.  My 
wife  can  crochet ;  and  if  I  had  a  daughter,  it  is  hard  to 
say  what  she  might  or  might  not  be  able  to  do.  No  one 
is  to  blame  for  this  condition  of  affairs,  which  is  as  true  of 
most  families  in  this  country  to-day  as  it  is  of  mine.  My 
mother  earned  a  living  by  selling  the  product  of  her 
own  hands  made  under  her  own  father's  roof  tree. 
Should  her  granddaughter  be  required  to  support  her- 
self, she  could  only  do  so  by  going  out  of  her  home  and 
into  the  highways  of  life.  Machinery  has  made  these 
changed  conditions  for  all  the  feminine  part  of  our  pop- 
ulation that  must  needs  work  for  a  living.  I  am  not 
complaining  of  this,  but  I  am  emphasizing  the  fact  that 
these  new  conditions  that  confront  one  half  of  our  popu- 
lation cannot  be  ignored  by  any  system  whose  business 
it  is  to  fit  this  part  of  our  community  for  life,  to  bring 
its  constituency  to  its  possible  best. 

And  on  the  masculine  side  of  the  issue,  the  changes 
which  machinery  has  wrought  in  the  last  fifty  years 
are  equally  in  evidence  and  potent.  My  father  reaped 
grain  with  a  sickle  such  as  Joseph's  brethren  used  when 
that  young  dreamer  went  out  into  the  fields  to  give  them 
a  message.  His  grandson  can  sit  on  a  "  harvester  "  and 
reap  and  bind  more  grain  in  one  hour  than  his  progeni- 
tor could  so  dispose  of  in  two  days  of  hard  work.  This 
one  instance  tells  what  might  be  extended  into  volumes. 
And  it  all  means  that  the  young  men   of  to-day  are 


WHAT  IS  WRONG  IN  ALL  THIS?  143 

circumstanced  not  at  all  as  were  the  young  men  of  the 
time  when  our  public  schools  came  into  being,  and  for 
whose  needs  they  were  fashioned.  Our  whole  industrial 
life,  for  both  male  and  female,  has  been  changed  by 
machinery;  and  the  educational  needs  of  our  people, 
especially  our  young  people,  have  changed  accordingly. 
The  original  plan  for  educating  children  in  our  public 
schools  knew  next  to  nothing  of  the  industrial  conditions 
that  obtain  to-day,  nor  was  it  fashioned  to  meet  any  such 
requirements.     That  is  the  first  story. 

Again :  Modern  scientific  thought,  which  has  come 
into  vogue  since  I  was  a  boy,  has  wholly  changed  the 
mental  status  of  our  entire  population.  Never  before 
have  so  many  people  thought  for  themselves  as  now  in 
our  country.  The  unyielding  relations  of  cause  and 
effect  were  never  so  generally  recognized  as  they  are 
to-day.  All  these  new  elements  and  forces  in  life  are 
exploited  and  scattered  broadcast  among  our  people  as 
never  before  by  books,  magazines,  and  newspapers, 
which  fill  the  homes  of  our  people  to  the  utmost  limit 
of  our  domain.  The  result  is  that  dicta  and  dogma  that 
were  once  accepted  without  a  question  are  now  chal- 
lenged on  every  hand,  and  are  asked  to  give  reasons 
for  what  they  assert.  This  is  a  condition  that  power- 
fully affects  our  mental  status.  And  yet  its  possibility 
never  entered  the  minds  of  the  original  promoters  of 
our  public  schools.  They  made  no  provision  for  it,  and 
that  they  did  not  must  be  considered  in  the  formation  of 
any  scheme  that  aims  to  bring  every  individual  in  our 
country  to  his  or  her  possible  best. 

Again  :  All  this  new  order  of  things,  industrial  and 
mental,  has  been  hurled  bodily  upon  such  a  mixed-up 
mass  of  humanity  as  our  world  never  till  now  saw  gath- 


144 


ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 


ered  together  into  one  place.  The  heterogeneity  of  the 
population  in  this  country  is  absolutely  unique.  Our 
fathers  never  dreamed  that  it  ever  could  be  what  it  now 
is.  Our  citizenship  is  composed  of  people  who  have 
come  from  all  nations  of  the  earth.  It  represents 
every  language,  religion,  custom,  idea  of  right  and 
wrong,  political  faith,  that  the  sun  has  ever  looked  down 
upon.  We  have  nearly  a  hundred  millions  of  these 
people  under  our  flag  to-day ;  they  are  red,  white,  black, 
yellow,  and  mixed,  and  we  are  trying  to  run  the  whole 
outfit  on  a  New  England  **  town  meeting "  plan. 

All  these  conditions  are  new  and  they  have  forced 
new  problems  upon  us  as  a  nation,  which  we  are  com- 
pelled to  solve  or  to  suffer  for  not  doing  so.  And  in 
the  solution  of  such  problems,  there  is  no  single  agency 
which  is  as  potent  as  that  of  the  education  of  all  the 
children  of  all  these  people,  whose  well-being  is  involved 
in  the  premises.  For  all  these  varieties  of  people  have 
children,  each  after  its  own  kind,  and  it  is  the  educa- 
tion of  all  these  children  of  all  these  people  that  we  have 
undertaken,  and  it  is  proving  to  be  no  easy  task. 

Once  more :  The  enlarged  fields  of  knowledge  which 
modern  research  and  discovery  have  so  recently  devel- 
oped renders  it  entirely  impossible  for  single  individuals 
to  do  what  they  easily  did  a  few  years  ago.  When  my 
father  left  college,  he  knew  about  all  that  was  taught  in 
the  institution  where  he  had  studied.  Latin,  Greek, 
some  mathematics,  a  little  philosophy,  and  considerable 
history  —  these  made  up  the  whole  curriculum  that  any 
scholar  was  asked  to  master  in  those  days.  One  uniform 
diploma  served  for  all  the  graduates  from  any  or  all 
classical  colleges  in  this  country  at  that  time,  and  that 
was  a  good  deal  less  than  one  hundred  years  ago. 


WHAT  IS  WRONG  IN  ALL  THIS? 


145 


But  to-day  ?  Our  Illinois  State  University  advertises 
five  hundred  possible  courses  of  study  in  its  curricula. 
It  would  take  a  student  a  hundred  years  to  master  all 
the  studies  taught  in  this  single  institution.  And  what 
is  true  of  this  great  school  is  equally  true  of  scores  of 
similar  institutions  all  over  this  country.  No  such  con- 
dition existed  when  our  public  schools  were  founded,  and 
no  provision  was  made  for  such  a  situation. 

And  yet,  for  the  most  part,  as  I  have  more  than  once 
remarked,  our  public  schools  are  now  working  on  prac- 
tically the  same  lines  on  which  they  were  first  projected. 
Nearly  all  our  colleges  still  demand  Latin  as  an  entrance 
requirement,  and  all  accredited  high  schools  are  thereby 
compelled  to  make  this  study  a  chief  item  in  their  cur- 
ricula. The  result  is  that  the  great  bulk  of  the  grade  work 
done  below  the  high  school  is  still  forced  to  be  fashioned 
as  tributary  to  a  classical  college  entrance  requirement, 
as  originally  proposed ;  and  if  pupils  stay  in  the  grades 
or  in  the  high  schools  at  all,  they  are  compelled  to  do 
just  this  work  or  none.  If  they  are  "born  short"  on 
these  lines,  if  they  are  unable  to  function  mentally  as 
the  curriculum  demands  they  must,  they  are  dropped  out 
of  the  schools  that  all  the  people  pay  for,  and  are  thus 
left  wholly  unprovided  for  by  the  institution  that  was 
inaugurated  for  the  benefit  of  all,  and  not  for  the  needs 
of  a  select  few.  These  are  facts  that  we  are  all  familiar 
with,  and  they  embody  some  of  the  things  that  are  posi- 
tively wrong  in  the  present  status  of  our  pubHc  school 
system.  They  show  in  a  most  pronounced  way  why  it 
is  that  our  schools  do  not  now  educate  all  the  children 
of  all  the  people. 


CHAPTER   XVII 

CAN  ANYTHING  BE  DONE  TO  HELP  THESE  MATTERS? 

No  Wholesale  Answer  possible  —  Due  Credit  given  for  what  Schools 
have  done  —  "  Class  "  Tendency  in  High  Schools  —  Adaptation 
the  Great  Lack  in  Present  System  —  Former  Psychology  should 
be  revised  —  Pedagogic  Methods  need  Modification  —  College 
Methods  of  Adaptation  should  be  extended  to  All  Grades  of  Pub- 
lic Schools  —  The  Use  of  Books  —  Heads  and  Hands  —  "The 
Schools  for  the  Children,  not  the  Children  for  the  Schools." 

In  attempting  to  answer  the  question  which  forms 
the  caption  to  this  chapter,  let  it  be  said  at  the  outset 
that  no  complete  and  wholesale  reply  can  be  given,  here 
or  anywhere  else,  that  will  fully  meet  all  the  require- 
ments in  the  case.  The  issue  is  too  large  to  be  settled 
immediately  and  right  out  of  hand.  But  I  believe  some 
suggestions  can  be  made  that  will  help  the  situation 
considerably.     And  that  is  something. 

But  before  making  suggestions,  I  wish  to  say  that  I 
believe  I  fully  appreciate  all  that  our  public  schools 
have  done  for  the  children  of  this  country,  and  I  want 
to  give  them  full  credit  for  all  they  have  accomplished. 
In  some  ways,  there  is  no  limit  to  the  benefit  they  have 
been  to  our  whole  community.  They  have  taught 
untold  thousands  of  foreign  children  how  to  speak, 
read,  and  write  the  EngHsh  language  with  a  consid- 
erable degree  of  accuracy.  By  mingUng  all  classes 
of  our  children  together  in  the  same  schoolrooms  they 
have  fostered  a  spirit  of  genuine  democracy  that  has 
been  of  the  greatest  value  as  a  social  equalizer  among 

146 


CAN  ANYTHING  HELP  THESE  MATTERS?  147 

our  people.  I  believe  it  is  on  this  count  that  our  schools 
have  been  of  more  value  to  us  as  a  nation  than  in  any 
other  one  way.  The  great  bulk  of  all  the  children  of 
all  our  people  have  been  closely  associated  together  for 
a  more  or  less  extended  period  of  their  lives,  in  our 
public  schools.  They  have  worked  together,  played 
together,  sung  together,  quarreled  some,  fought  a  little, 
loved  much,  and  formed  associations  which  have  been 
of  great  benefit  to  all  parties  concerned.  All  of  which 
is  for  the  best. 

These  things  are  specially  true  of  the  lower  grades  of 
our  schools.  As  the  pupils  have  advanced  in  the  ranks 
of  school  life  the  "  class  "  tendency  has  become  more 
and  more  in  evidence ;  and  this  is  specially  true  of  the 
high  schools,  where,  particularly  in  late  years,  the  aping 
of  college  ways  has  done  much  to  create  social  divisions 
among  the  students,  —  a  condition  which  surely  is  not 
for  the  best.  Still,  these  are  minor  matters,  and  if  only 
all  the  children  could  be  kept  in  the  schools,  such  things 
would  be  but  trifles.     I  merely  note  them  in  passing. 

Be  it  said,  then,  that  before  any  great  change  can 
come  which  will  result  in  a  more  perfect  adaptation  of 
the  work  done  in  our  public  schools  to  the  needs  of  all 
the  children  who  ought  to  attend  them,  we  shall  have 
to  have,  first,  and  above  all  else,  a  revision  of  the  psy- 
chology that  the  founders  of  these  schools  held;  and 
also  a  great  change  in  the  pedagogical  methods  which 
these  men  inaugurated  and  established  in  our  public 
schools.  We  also  shall  have  to  change  the  popular  idea 
of  what  an  education  is ;  of  what  constitutes  an  edu- 
cated man ;  of  what  the  purpose  of  education  really  is, 
and  of  what  it  will  do  for  individual  children.  All  of 
these  changes  in  the  present  order  will  surely  have  to 


148        ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

be  made  before  our  schools  can  redeem  the  promise 
of  their  founders,  and  fulfill  the  hopes  of  those  who 
sustain  them.  Something  of  what  form  these  changes 
may  take,  as  time  goes  on,  I  venture  to  predict,  as 
follows :  — 

In  the  first  place,  I  am  very  sure  that,  gradually,  our 
public  school  teachers,  of  all  classes,  will  come  to 
recognize  the  truth  of  the  "  born  short "  and  "  born  long" 
psychological  theory;  and  that,  in  the  not  distant  future, 
they  will  begin  to  modify  their  demands  upon  their 
pupils  accordingly.  This  means  that  a  single  and  uni- 
form curriculum,  which  extends  from  primary  entrance 
to  graduation  day  in  the  high  school,  the  same  for  each 
and  every  pupil,  no  matter  what  his  or  her  natural  abili- 
ties may  be  —  a  course  of  study  which,  from  start  to 
finish,  has  for  its  chief  end  and  aim  the  fitting  of  the 
pupil  to  enter  a  classical  college  —  that  such  a  method 
of  procedure  will  one  day  be  a  thing  of  the  past,  as 
having  been  thoroughly  tried  and  found  to  be,  for  the 
most  part,  wanting.  In  any  event,  this  system  has 
ignominiously  failed  to  educate  all  the  children  of  all 
the  people,  —  to  deliver  the  goods  it  bargained  to  turn 
over  to  those  who  paid  the  bills. 

My  chief  reason  for  this  belief  lies  in  the  fact  that 
our  colleges  and  higher  institutions  of  learning  have  all 
come  to  recognize  this  primal  psychological  fact  of 
"  shorts  "  and  "  longs,"  of  the  variability  in  the  mental 
functioning  power  of  their  students,  and  have  fashioned 
their  curricula  accordingly.  I  do  not  know  of  any  higher 
institution  of  learning,  anywhere  in  this  country,  which 
now  limits  its  students  to  a  single  course  of  study  and 
issues  only  one  form  of  diploma.  The  "  elective  "  prin- 
ciple has  become  universal  among  all  these  institutions. 


CAN  ANYTHING  HELP  THESE  MATTERS?  149 

Not  one  of  them  could  long  exist  if  it  abandoned  such 
method  and  practice.  They  grew  into  this  condition 
slowly.  The  most  conservative  of  them  rebelled  against 
it  to  the  utmost.  But  they  have  all  finally  had  to  "  come 
to  the  scratch,"  —  to  accept  the  inevitable.  They  have 
done  this  loyally,  in  most  cases  —  when  they  had  to. 
There  have  been  some  blunders,  not  a  few  mistakes, 
and  occasional  failures  in  what  has  been  done ;  but  on 
the  whole  the  psychology  which  is  grounded  in  the 
"  born  short "  and  "  born  long "  idea,  and  the  means 
and  methods  thereby  required,  have  come  to  the  fore, 
and  they  are  here  to  stay. 

Is  it  not  manifest  to  all  thoughtful  people  that  in- 
evitably the  same  principles  and  methods  which  have 
won  out  in  our  higher  educational  institutions  must  be 
applied  in  all  the  educational  work  that  is  done  in 
all  the  educational  institutions  of  this  country .?  This 
question  will  call  forth  a  storm  of  protest  from  many  of 
my  readers,  just  as  the  first  declaration  of  the  doctrine 
of  individual  aptitude  as  a  factor  in  educational  possibili- 
ties roused  almost  a  rebellion  in  classical  college  circles. 
Staid  professors  in  these  institutions  raved  against  the 
heresy,  and  set  their  faces  like  a  flint  against  the  theory. 
But  it  was  all  of  no  avail.  The  same  thing  will  one  day 
happen  in  our  public  schools.  For  truth  is  mighty,  and 
it  will  prevail.  It  takes  time  for  it  to  arrive,  but  it  will 
one  day  reach  the  goal  that  is  named  and  that  cannot 
be  countermanded. 

The  details  of  how  all  this  can  be  worked  out,  no  one 
can  now  give.  I  shall  try  to  outline  a  few  of  these  in 
later  chapters ;  but,  for  the  most  part,  their  full  elabo- 
ration will  have  to  be  the  work  of  years  of  careful  exper- 
imentation and  of  scientific  research. 


150       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

Again  :  Our  present  schoolroom  methods,  of  making 
memory  the  chief  factor  in  the  acquirement  of  an  edu- 
cation will  be  abandoned,  for  the  most  part,  in  the  new 
order  of  things  and  as  time  goes  on.  As  I  have  already 
said,  all  this  way  of  working  came  from  a  time  when 
there  were  no  books.  Now  we  have  books,  plenty  of 
them.  The  thing  to  do  in  this  new  order  of  things  is 
to  teach  our  children  how  to  use  books,  instead  of  trying 
to  make  walking  encyclopedias  of  them.  But  more  of 
this  later  on. 

Again  (and  this  will  be  harder  to  achieve  than  the 
two  changes  I  have  just  mentioned,  because  it  involves 
so  many  people),  we  shall  have  to  change  the  popular 
idea,  which  is  now  deeply  seated  in  the  minds  of  nearly 
all  our  citizens,  as  to  what  education  really  is ;  what 
constitutes  an  educated  man;  what  education  is  for, 
essentially ;  and  what  it  will  do  for  each  individual 
child.  These  necessary  changes  are  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance, and  I  shall  discuss  them  at  length  in  follow- 
ing chapters,  in  the  order  in  which  they  are  here  stated. 

Finally,  we  shall  have  to  introduce  methods  into  our 
school  work  which  will  train  hands  as  well  as  heads. 
And  because  the  great  bulk  of  our  children  must  live  by 
the  work  of  their  hands,  by  the  same  token  a  very  large 
part  of  the  education  and  discipHne  we  give  them  will  be 
such  as  will  enable  them  to  do  their  work  well,  whatever 
it  may  be. 

In  a  word,  as  I  said  in  another  book,  long  ago,  "  we 
shall  make  our  schools  fit  our  children  instead  of  trying 
to  make  our  children  fit  our  schools."  We  shall  establish 
ways  and  means  in  our  schoolrooms  which,  because 
of  their  perfect  adaptation  to  the  needs  of  all  the  chil- 
dren of  all  our  people,  will  keep  all  these  children  in  our 


CAN  ANYTHING  HELP  THESE  MATTERS?         151 

schools  through  all  the  period  of  their  school-day  years ; 
and  we  shall  stop  throwing  the  great  bulk  of  our  chil- 
dren out  6i  the  schools  which  all  the  people  pay  for, 
because  they  cannot  conform  to  classical  college  entrance 
requirements. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

THE   LAW   OF  THE   INDIVIDUAL 

The  Inalienable  Right  educationally  stated  —  How  it  can  obtain  in 
the  Public  Schools  —  School  Master  and  School  Teacher  —  Logic 
and  Love  —  Superintendents  and  Principals  —  Grades  and  their 
Modifications  —  Force  and  Punishments  —  "  Survival  of  the  Fit- 
test" vs.  "Feed  My  Lambs"  — The  Boss  vs.  the  Leader  — 
Democracy  and  the  "  Square  Deal." 

Of  course,  the  fundamental  thing  I  am  standing  for 
in  the  position  I  have  taken  is  the  ultimate  right  in  the 
premises  of  each  individual  human  being.  What  such 
right  is  can  best  be  estimated  by  considering  the  primal 
and  final  law  of  individual  human  life,  in  all  social  rela- 
tions. This  law  is  as  follows  :  Each  and  every  individual 
human  being,  anywhere  and  everywhere,  in  all  the  world, 
has  an  inalienable  right  to  do  what  and  how  he  will,  so 
long  as  such  doing  does  not  interfere  with  what  some 
one  else,  who  has  the  same  inalienable  rights,  does,  or 
wishes  to  have  the  opportunity  for  doing.  That  is,  no 
one  has  any  right  to  compel  me  to  do  this  or  that,  simply 
because  he  wishes  me  to,  or  has  the  power  to  force  me 
to.  All  of  which  means  that,  in  the  development  of 
myself  by  means  of  the  educational  processes  that  are 
brought  to  bear  upon  me,  the  first  items  to  be  looked 
after  are  my  nature,  my  needs,  my  possibilities,  and  not 
what  will  please  somebody  else,  causing  me  to  conform 
to  a  mold  I  was  never  made  to  fill,  to  be  fashioned  into 
something  I  was  never  designed  to  be.     And  what  is 

152 


THE  LAW  OF  THE  INDIVmUAL 


153 


right  for  me,  by  the  law  of  the  individual  is  right  for  all 
my  brothers  and  sisters,  everywhere  and  always.  Our 
Father  in  Heaven  has  no  pets. 

So  then  the  supreme  question,  so  far  as  this  treatise 
is  concerned,  propounds  itself  in  this  way.  Is  it  possible 
to  exploit  our  public  schools  upon  the  basis  here  out- 
lined, this  law  of  the  individual ;  and,  if  so,  how  can  it  be 
done .''  I  firmly  believe  such  a  consummation  can  be 
reached ;  indeed,  that  it  must  be  reached,  if  our  schools 
are  to  become  a  permanent  factor  in  civilization,  as.  I  feel 
sure  they  are.  How  it  can  be  done  it  is  not  so  easy  to 
tell.  But  I  venture  to  prophesy  a  little,  again,  as  fol- 
lows :  — 

In  the  first  place,  \hQ  predominating  spirit  which  now 
is  to  the  fore  in  the  management  of  these  schools  must 
be  changed.  This  spirit  is  now  supremely  manifest  in 
the  word  **  %Q\\QQ\master,''  which  we  have  inherited  from 
monarchy,  and  which  has  its  root  deep  down  in  selfish- 
ness. (I  saw  Head  Master  printed  on  a  public  school 
room  door,  only  a  few  days  ago.) 

Now  this  term  "schoolmaster,"  and  the  spirit  it  implies, 
must  give  place  to  the  term  "school  teacher''  and  the  spirit 
it  implies ;  and  there  is  all  the  difference  in  the  world 
between  the  two.  The  one  means  command,  the  other 
means  service.  The  one  says  :  "  I  am  here  to  make  the 
child  do  so  and  so,  and  he  has  got  to  do  it,  or  go."  The 
other  says :  "  I  am  here  to  help  the  child  come  to  the  best 
there  is  in  himself,  he  being  what  he  is." 

The  one  says :  "  No  matter  what  form  a  given  child 
is  intended  to  develop  into,  or  what  original  abilities  he 
may  have;  if  he  comes  here  to  stay,  he  has  got  to  be 
formed  as  I  and  the  system  determine,  and  we  will  com- 
pel him  to  go  out  fashioned  from  a  common  model." 


154       ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

The  other  says :  "  It  is  my  business  to  try  to  find  out, 
and  to  try  to  help  each  pupil  to  find  out,  what  he  is  best 
fitted  for;  what  his  or  her  limitations  and  possibilities 
are,  and  how  best  these  latter  can  be  developed ;  and  if 
we  fail  to  come  at  this  the  first  time  trying,  we  are  to 
keep  trying  again,  in  other  ways,  till  we  do  find  what  is 
best,  and  then  do  this  in  the  best  way  we  can."  The 
one  holds  that  the  children  are  made  for  the  schools. 
The  other  holds  that  the  schools  are  constantly  to  be 
made  to  suit  the  every  need  of  all  the  children  of  all  the 
people. 

The  one  has  ever  in  mind  an  unyielding  System,  and 
strives,  above  everything  else,  to  see  that  it  is  rigidly 
enforced.  The  other  has  ever  in  mind  the  individ- 
ual child,  and  stands  ready  to  warp  or  discard  any  or 
all  preconceived  systems  and  theories  that,  experience 
proves,  hinder  that  particular  child  in  its  natural  develop- 
ment. 

The  one  has  a  psychological  theory  which  declares 
that  the  minds  of  children  are  like  pieces  of  white  paper 
on  which  can  be  marked  whatever  we  will;  the  other, 
that  each  and  every  child  is  born  with  a  mind  of  its 
own,  and  with  capabilities  that  are  limited  in  certain 
directions  by  its  body,  and  that  these  things  must  be 
taken  into  account  in  the  education  of  this  particular 
child. 

The  one  declares  that  any  man  can  do  whatever  he 
wills  to  do,  regardless  of  conditions.  The  other  ac- 
knowledges that,  so  far  as  this  world  is  concerned  at 
least,  we  are  finite  beings. 

The  one  makes  distinctions,  and  says  that  the  so- 
called  best  people  should  go  to  the  fore  and  should  com- 
mand all  the  rest.     The  other  is  anxious  to  help  keep 


THE  LAW  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL  155 

the  whole  procession  moving,  and  that  each  shall  count 
only  one  of  the  crowd. 

The  one  favors  classes,  the  other  is  for  the  masses ; 
one  is  for  some,  the  other  is  for  all.  The  one  is  mon- 
archical, from  start  to  finish.  The  other  is  genuinely- 
democratic,  viewed  from  any  and  all  points.  The  one 
is  military,  the  other  is  civil.  The  one  coerces,  the 
other  leads.  The  one  looks  down  upon  the  children, 
the  other  loves  them. 

Now  all  this  does  not  mean  that  the  teacher  is  to  be  the 
slave  of  the  child,  that  children  are  to  come  to  school 
when  they  happen  to  be  pleased  to  do  so,  and  go  when 
they  like,  and  do  just  as  they  have  a  mind  to  when 
they  are  there.  Logic  may  put  it  that  way ;  but  logic, 
the  dogmatic  sort,  has  little  to  do  just  here.  It  is  love 
and  not  logic  that  shows  the  way  in  all  the  higher  walks 
of  life. 

Will  there  be  superintendents  in  the  new  order  of 
things  ;  and  will  there  be  principals  ?  Most  assuredly. 
The  only  difference  will  be  in  the  mental  and  spiritual 
attitude  of  these  functionaries.  Instead  of  their  chief 
aim  being  to  command,  it  will  be  to  serve.  The  ever 
uppermost  question  with  each  such  official  will  be :  How 
can  I  best  serve,  how  best  promote  the  success  and  wel- 
fare of  the  teachers  and  pupils  which  are  committed  to 
my  care  ?  There  are  such  superintendents  and  princi- 
pals now  at  work  in  our  public  schools  —  a  good  many 
such.  But  we  must  all  admit  that  there  are  others,  and 
that  they  are  not  all  that  way.  Our  aim  must  be  to 
make  that  kind  as  numerous  as  possible. 

Will  there  be  grades  ?  There  will  be  children  in  each 
school,  and  in  each  room  of  every  school,  who  are  so 
much  alike  that,  on  some  point  or  points,  they  can  be 


156       ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

successfully  taught  together  in  a  class.  But  it  will  not 
follow  that  all  the  children  who  are  taught  together  in 
any  one  class  will  necessarily  all  be  taught  together  in 
any  other  class,  much  less  in  all  other  classes.  There  is 
where  all  the  trouble  has  come  in  our  graded  school 
work,  as  thus  far  done ;  and,  this  evil  eliminated,  nearly 
every  other  wrong  or  mistake  connected  with  our  public 
schools  will  disappear.  If  the  law  of  the  individual 
can  be  faithfully  observed,  not  to  the  letter,  but  "  in 
spirit  and  in  truth,"  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  these 
schools  will  have  gone  a  long  way  towards  success- 
fully fulfilling  the  mission  whereunto  they  were  given 
being. 

Will  there,  then,  be  no  compulsion,  no  punishment, 
no  exactions,  no  force  ? 

There  will  be  restraint  for  the  wrongdoers  —  for  those 
who  interfere  with  others  by  their  acts.  There  will  be 
consequences,  such  as  must  ever  result  from  mistakes 
and  blunders,  and  from  deliberate  transgression.  There 
will  be  positive  requirements  that  each  keep  in  his  own 
place  without  detriment  to  any  of  the  others.  There 
will  be  the  exercise  of  force  wherever  such  is  required 
to  maintain  the  law  of  the  individual,  never  otherwise. 
(There  may  be  corporal  punishment,  even  of  a  very  se- 
vere sort,  for  those  who  are  only  far  enough  along  in 
the  procession  to  understand  the  language  of  bodily  suf- 
fering; but  this  means  will  never  be  used  for  its  own 
sake.) 

And  this  does  not  mean  anarchy,  or  chaos,  by  any 
manner  of  means.  It  simply  stands  for  the  establish- 
ment of  the  schools  upon  a  basis  of  love  for  all,  in- 
stead of  favors  to  a  few ;  of  justice  instead  of  partiality ; 
upon  the  spiritual  plane  instead  of  the  material  plane ; 


THE  LAW  OF  THE  INDIVIDUAL  157 

upon  the  principle  embodied  in  the  words  "feed  my 
lambs"  and  "one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren," 
and  not  upon  "the  survival  of  the  fittest,"  as  that 
phrase  is  generally  translated  and  understood — namely, 
that  the  brutally  strongest  have  a  right  to  crush  and 
annihilate  everything  and  everybody  that  their  unfeel- 
ing power  can  overcome  and  put  under  their  feet.  The 
whole  change  is  from  a  lower  to  a  higher  plane,  from 
the  material  to  the  spiritual;  and  that  way  all  life  is 
working.  So,  some  day,  this  order  of  things  in  our 
schools  must  come. 

So  again  I  say,  the  purpose  of  all  work  is  to  change 
conditions,  and  a  change  in  conditions  always  means  the 
passing  of  what  is  and  the  establishment  in  its  place  of 
what  is  to  be.  You  and  I  are  the  workers  in  this  par- 
ticular case  of  our  public  schools,  and  we  must  work  for 
a  change  of  conditions  in  these  schools  that  shall  cause 
them  to  harmonize  with  the  law  of  the  individual,  and 
not  leave  them  under  the  domination  of  a  system  that 
cares  more  for  itself  and  its  own  perpetuity  than  for  the 
children  whom  it  is  set  to  care  for.  There  is  the  issue, 
clear  and  undisguised.  The  old  must  go,  the  new  must 
come,  and  you  and  I  must  work  to  bring  this  consum- 
mation about. 

And,  in  doing  this,  we  will  not  rail  at,  or  blame,  or 
curse  what  has  been,  or  what  is.  "All  these  things 
must  needs  come  to  pass."  But  they  have  come  only 
that  they  might  pass,  and  to  "  prepare  the  soil  for  su- 
perior growths."  And  so  you  and  I  will  plant,  for  these 
superior  growths  in  our  public  schools,  the  seeds  of  the 
law  of  the  individual,  which,  sprouting  and  growing  up, 
will,  in  time,  root  out  the  law  of  the  boss,  which  has  had 
its  day,  and  so  must  go  under.     This  is  what  the  live 


158       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

teacher  of  to-day  must  stand  for,  if  he  would  fill  to  the 
full  his  place  in  the  procession  that  goes  towards  that 
which  is  great.  In  our  schools,  as  everywhere  else  in 
our  democracy,  we  must  give  every  individual  "  a  square 
deal." 


CHAPTER   XIX 

WHAT   IS  EDUCATION  ?    WHO  ARE  EDUCATED  MEN  ? 

Inherited  Beliefs  —  The  Common  Answer  to  these  Questions  — 
The  College-bred  only  counted  as  Educated  —  Criticism  of  this 
Definition  —  Lincoln  and  his  Cabinet  —  Bill  Nye  on  Lincoln  — 
Definition  of  the  really  Educated  Man  —  Proofs  offered  —  Night 
Ride  with  "■  Old  Mike  "  —  "  Onto  his  Job  "  —  Application  of  this 
Measure  of  Men  —  Whitman  on  Work  and  the  "  Loving  Laborer." 

I  HAVE  said  that  one  of  the  most  difficult  points  to 
overcome  in  this  problem  of  the  education  of  all  the 
children  of  all  the  people,  is  the  deep-seated  wrong  idea 
that  nearly  all  our  citizens  have,  as  to  what  education 
really  is,  and  as  to  who  really  are  truly  educated  men. 
These  ideas,  so  generally  held,  have  their  roots  in  the 
far  past.  What  they  are,  we  have  only  to  look  into 
our  inherited  beliefs  to  find  out  and  appreciate. 

Thus,  what  do  you,  dear  reader,  think  education  is  ? 
Have  you  ever  defined  this  to  yourself,  or  have  you 
merely  taken  somebody  else's  opinion  about  it.'  In 
either  case,  put  it  to  yourself  now,  and  see  what  your 
reply  will  be. 

Of  what  do  you  think  an  education  consists  ?  Whom 
do  you  consider  an  educated  person  ? 

Regardless  of  what  your  answer  may  be,  I  believe 
that,  if  the  average  man  or  woman  one  meets  in  the  street 
should  be  stopped  and  asked,  "  Whom  do  you  consider  an 
educated  person  ? "  the  answer  would  be  practically  this  : 
"  An  educated  person  is  one  who  has  a  large  and  extended 
acquaintance  with,  and  memory  knowledge  of,  books." 

159 


l6o  ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

I  do  not  say  that  is  the  definition  you  who  are  reading 
these  lines  would  give,  but  I  firmly  believe  that  is  the 
answer  you  would  get  from  the  average  man  or  woman, 
anywhere  in  this  country,  and  the  chances  are  it  is  your 
inherited  conviction.  And  this  is  only  another  way  of 
saying  that  it  is  the  popular  idea,  the  idea  that  is  gener- 
ally held  by  our  people. 

And  if  this  same  average  individual  were  asked  to  point 
out  some  one  or  more  whom  he  considered  as  educated, 
he  would  undoubtedly  name  some  clergyman,  lawyer, 
doctor,  school  teacher  —  in  a  word,  some  book-profes- 
sional man  or  woman. 

Now  I  am  not  saying  that  he  would  not  be  right  in 
this,  in  a  way.  I  am  not  saying  that  book-professional 
people  are  not  educated  people.  But  I  want  to  say,  and 
say  it  large,  so  that  "  anybody,  anywheres,  can  under- 
stand it,"  as  poor  little  Joe  has  it,  that  these  book-pro- 
fessional people,  educated  though  they  may  be,  are  by 
no  means  the  only  educated  people  in  the  world.  That 
is  the  point  that  I  want  to  make,  and  make  strong. 

Nor  would  the  one  who  made  the  supposed  answer  I 
have  noted  be  at  all  to  blame  for  his  reply.  He  would 
only  be  voicing  the  general  idea  of  the  age  regarding 
education  and  educated  men  and  women.  If  he  had 
wished  to  tell  it  all  in  a  word,  he  might  have  said  a 
college-bred  man  is  an  educated  person.  That  is  the 
common  idea,  and  there  are  the  best  of  reasons  for  its 
being  so.  All  the  training  of  all  the  schools,  for  cen- 
turies, has  tended  to  develop  such  a  definition ;  and  the 
great  bulk  of  the  men  and  women  who  wish  to  be 
counted  as  educated,  have  insisted  on  such  a  conclusion 
being  drawn.  So  it  is  perfectly  natural  that  things 
should  be  as  they  are  in  this  respect. 


WHAT  IS  EDUCATION?  l6l 

Nor  is  this  altogether  ill.  The  only  trouble  about  it 
is,  that  this  view  of  the  case  is  not  broad  enough.  It  is 
too  exclusive.  It  shuts  too  few  in  and  too  many  out. 
It  means  some  and  not  all.  The  idea  expressed  in  such 
a  definition  is,  that  these  and  these  only  are  educated 
people.     There  is  the  trouble. 

Only  college-bred  people  educated  people  ?  Think, 
now  !  Think  of  the  truly  great  and  noble  men  and 
women  you  have  known.  Think  of  those  you  have 
been  acquainted  with  who  have  lived  successful  lives, 
who  have  been  a  blessing  to  themselves  and  to  all  their 
fellow  men  with  whom  they  have  come  in  contact ;  who 
have  done  things  and  have  known  about  things  —  oh, 
about  so  many  things  !  Maybe  the  things  they  knew 
about  were  not  set  down  in  books.  Perhaps  some  of 
these  people  knew  very  little  about  books,  one  way  or 
another.  But  they  knew  things.  They  did  things. 
And  by  all  true  tests  they  were  educated  people. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  Mr.  Lincoln  was  not  very  book- 
wise.  The  range  of  his  reading  was  very  limited.  He 
surely  never  went  to  college.  But  who  shall  dare  say 
that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  not  an  educated  man  ? 
Why,  this  great  saved  nation  of  ours  to-day  tells  what 
a  wonderfully  educated  man  he  was.  Yet  the  college- 
bred  men  of  his  cabinet,  and  their  likes  all  over  the 
country,  feared  that  he  would  fail  because  of  his  lack  of 
education  !  Two  college-bred  members  of  his  cabinet 
wrote  him  a  letter,  before  he  had  been  president  three 
months,  in  which  they  virtually  told  him  that,  on  account 
of  his  lack  of  educational  training,  it  was  evident  to 
them  that  he  was  unequal  to  the  task  of  being  President 
of  the  United  States;  and  that,  if  he  would  turn  the 
affairs  of  state  over  to  them,  they  would  take  care  of 


1 62        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

them  as  they  ought  to  be  taken  care  of,  while  he  might 
appoint  the  postmasters  and  hobnob  with  professional 
politicians  !     Fact ! 

Nor  were  the  men  who  wrote  this  letter  sinners  above 
all  others.  They  only  voiced  the  sentiments  of  book- 
professional  men,  the  country  over,  at  that  time.  Bill 
Nye  put  the  situation  very  graphically  when  he  wrote  in 
his  "  History  of  the  United  States,"  "  Cultured  society 
was  continually  having  cold  chills  run  up  its  spine,  for 
fear  Mr.  Lincoln  would  put  sugar  and  cream  in  his  cold 
consomm6 !  "  The  current  idea  was  that  the  President 
could  not  be  an  educated  man  because  he  had  never 
had  a  chance  to  avail  himself  of  what  was  then  popularly 
supposed  to  be  the  only  means  of  acquiring  an  education. 

And  again  I  must  insist,  lest  I  be  wholly  misunder- 
stood, that,  in  saying  all  this,  I  am  not  saying  one  word 
against  colleges,  or  college-bred  men  and  women  as 
such,  or  against  the  kind  of  education  that  such  institu- 
tions and  such  men  and  women  stand  for.  The  only 
point  I  wish  to  make  is,  that  these  people,  these  in- 
stitutions, are  not  «//  t/tere  is  in  the  premises.  They 
are  not  "  the  only."  There  are  others  ;  and  they,  too, 
must  be  counted  in,  in  any  true  and  comprehensive  defi- 
nition of  what  an  education  is,  or  of  who  are  educated 
men  and  women. 

If  I  should  be  asked  whom  I  count  as  educated  per- 
sons I  should  reply:  "All  persons  are  educated  who 
have  so  developed  the  powers  and  abilities  that  are 
within  them,  individually,  that  they  can  each  do  well 
the  things  they  undertake  to  do."  That,  to  me,  is  the 
real  test  of  any  person's  educational  attainments.  It  is 
not  a  matter  of  diplomas,  it  is  not  a  matter  of  how  or 
where  one  has  reached  such  a  condition ;  it  is  a  matter 


WHAT  IS  EDUCATION?  163 

of  what  that  condition  really  is.  The  proof  lies  in 
ability  to  do  and  not  in  what  one  is  supposed  to  be  able 
to  do.  It  shows  itself  in  what  can  come  out  of  an  in- 
dividual and  not  what  is  alleged  to  have  been  put  into 
him. 

I  gave  this  definition  some  years  ago  before  an  audi- 
ence, and  it  afterward  elicited  a  remark  from  one  of 
my  hearers  that  I  must  note  just  here. 

The  night  before,  I  had  spoken  in  another  town,  some 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  where  I  was  then  speaking. 
As  trains  then  ran,  I  had  to  make  a  night  ride  between 
the  two  towns.  It  was  something  past  midnight  when 
I  went  down  to  the  station  to  board  the  train.  The 
town  was  a  division  station  on  the  road,  and  the  train 
was  already  in  the  yard  and  undergoing  the  necessary 
refurnishings,  as  I  came  up. 

Now  it  happened  that  the  'bus  from  which  I  alighted 
set  me  out  just  alongside  the  engine  that  was  to  pull  the 
train  over  the  next  division  of  the  road;  and,  just  at  that 
instant,  the  engineer  climbed  down  from  his  cab,  to  give 
his  machine  a  final  oiling  for  his  run.  I  took  a  look  at 
him  (I  always  take  a  look  —  a  good  long  look  —  at  an 
engineer),  and  I  recognized  him  as  an  old  Irish  engineer 
friend  of  mine  whom  I  had  known  a  good  many  years 
before,  when  he  was  running  on  an  Eastern  road.  So 
I  called  out  to  him,  "  Hello,  Mike  !  " 

He  flashed  his  torch  in  my  face,  and,  in  spite  of  the 
years  that  had  passed  since  we  had  last  met,  recognized 
me,  and  gave  me  a  hearty  greeting,  for  old  times'  sake. 
We  chatted  a  minute  or  two,  and  then  he  said,  looking  at 
his  watch  :  "  But  time  is  up  now,  an'  I  must  finish  'ilin' 
her.  But  put  up  your  grip  on  the  box,  an'  ride  wid  me." 
So  I  did  as  he  told  me  to  do,  put  my  grip  on  the  front 


1 64        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

end  of  the  seat  on  the  fireman's  side  of  the  cab,  and  rode 
with  old  Mike  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  that  night. 

And  it  was  a  ride  never  to  be  forgotten.  It  was  a 
wild,  stormy  night.  The  wind  was  blowing  and  howling 
out  of  the  northwest,  and  the  snow  was  piling  in  huge 
drifts  before  us  as  we  went.  It  was  a  ponderous  engine 
that  old  Mike  drove.  The  six  drivers  under  her  were  each 
a  full  seven  feet  in  diameter,  and  four  revolutions  of  her 
wheels  sent  her  nearly  a  hundred  feet  along  the  track. 

It  was  the  night  express.  There  were  eleven  cars  be- 
hind us,  carrying  hundreds  of  men,  women,  and  children, 
and  thousands  on  thousands  of  dollars'  worth  of  mer- 
chandise. In  the  Pullmans,  scores  of  people  were 
sleeping,  just  as  safe  as  though  they  had  been  at  home 
in  their  beds.  As  Mr.  Taylor  used  to  say,  the  train  was 
"  a  world  on  wheels,"  and  a  wonderful,  mighty  world  it 
was. 

And  old  Mike  sat  on  that  box  and  whirled  that  train 
through  space  at  the  rate  of  fifty  miles  an  hour,  in  a 
way  that  almost  took  my  breath  away.  He  knew  every 
switch,  every  rail,  almost  every  tie  that  he  ran  over. 
Sometimes  he  would  plunge  into  a  snow  drift  that  half 
filled  the  cut  ahead  of  us,  and  it  would  seem  for  a  minute 
as  though  an  avalanche  had  buried  us  miles  deep. 
And  then,  again,  through  a  long  stretch  of  open  prairie, 
the  wind  would  sweep  across  us  as  if  it  would  blow  us 
off  the  track.  But  through  it  all  —  the  night,  the  storm, 
the  darkness,  the  drifts,  and  the  tempest-fury  of  the 
winds  —  through  it  all,  that  old  man  sat  with  his  hand  on 
the  lever,  and  without  a  single  false  move,  or  the  loss  of 
so  much  as  a  mill  of  the  treasure  committed  to  his  care 
or  a  wink  of  sleep  to  a  passenger  aboard,  he  drove  his 
train  safely  to  its  destination,  and  then,  in  a  quiet,  un- 


WHAT  IS  EDUCATION?  165 

assuming  way,  entered  his  report  of  "  on  time  "  on  the 
record  book  at  the  end  of  his  run. 

Beloved,  I  take  off  my  hat  to  that  old  man  as  I  would 
to  the  greatest  soul  on  earth.  Let  us  uncover  before 
kings  and  princes  of  the  realm,  on  occasion.  It  may 
be  well  to  do  so.  But  in  the  presence  of  such  a  man 
as  old  Mike,  let  us  not  only  stand  bareheaded,  but 
silent. 

I  watched  him  in  the  most  tense  moments  of  that  run, 
and  there  was  a  radiance  shining  through  the  wrinkles 
of  his  old  face  that  almost  made  the  darkness  light 
about  him.  His  eye  gleamed  and  spoke  a  hundred 
things  that  tongue  of  man  can  never  tell.  His  hand 
held  the  lever  with  a  touch  that  was  as  delicate  and 
sensitive  to  what  it  was  controlling  as  is  the  finger  tip 
of  the  most  skillful  violinist  to  the  vibrations  of  the 
string  it  presses  down.  I  was  in  the  presence  of  an 
artist  in  his  line,  of  one  of  the  truly  great  in  life. 

Well,  the  next  night  this  old  engineer  came  to  hear 
me  talk,  and  in  my  talk  I  gave  the  definition  of  an  edu- 
cated man  that  I  have  given  above,  and  he  heard  what 
I  said.  After  it  was  all  over,  and  the  audience  had 
gone  away,  he  waited  for  me  at  the  door,  and  after  a 
complimentary  word  or  two,  he  said :  — 

"  But  I  can  bate  you  all  out  of  the  face  in  giving  a 
definition  of  an  iducated  man." 

And  I  said,  "  Let  it  come." 

Whereupon  he  replied,  "Why,  don't  you  know  that 
any  man  is  an  iducated  man  when  he's  on  to  his  job! " 

He  was  right !  His  definition  is  better  than  mine,  and 
it  lets  a  whole  flood  of  white  light  in  where  there  was 
surely  mist,  not  to  say,  in  some  cases,  the  blackness  of 
darkness  before.     Doubtless  it  is  a  crude  way  of  saying 


1 66       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

it,  but  there  is  a  strength  and  directness  in  the  remark 
that  clears  away  the  rubbish  to  a  degree. 

Grant  all  that  may  be  said  about  the  "breadth  of 
vision  and  loftiness  of  view"  that  is  reckoned  as  a  con- 
stant quantity  in  the  generally  accepted  estimate  as  to 
what  goes  along  with  an  education,  and  which  are  usu- 
ally counted  as  being  a  never  failing  asset  in  the  belong- 
ings of  a  supposed-to-be  educated  man.  These  things 
may  all  be  real,  and  they  are  all  right,  when  they  are 
genuinely  present,  and  when  their  possessors  keep  their 
feet  on  the  ground,  even  if  their  heads  do  touch  the  stars. 
But  when  they  are  only  vision  and  view,  as  is  too  often 
the  case,  they  are  a  delusion  and  a  snare.  Unless  the 
man  who  has  breadth  of  vision  and  loftiness  of  view  can 
do  things,  unless  he  is  "onto  his  job,"  he  is  a  poor  excuse 
for  a  man,  and  a  very  worthless  member  of  society,  take 
him  how  you  will.  I  would  not  be  harsh,  or  unfair,  but 
is  not  this  the  truth,  when  we  come  down  to  the  bottom 
facts  in  the  case } 

Indeed,  I  believe  it  is  right  and  fair  to  hold  Mike's 
method  of  proof  as  a  sure  test  of  the  reality  of  any  one's 
profession  as  to  his  being  an  educated  man.  Let  him 
who  makes  such  a  claim  be  brought  to  this  trial,  as  to 
whether  or  not  he  is  "onto  his  job,"  whatever  that  job 
may  be,  and  we  shall  all  soon  see  how,  like  a  refiner's 
fire,  such  a  test  "proves  up."  We  shall  see  it  burn  and 
purge  away  all  pretense  and  vainglory,  all  the  dross  of 
glamour  and  show,  and  reveal  only  the  pure  gold  of  what 
the  man  really  has  and  is.  None  who  are  truly  edu- 
cated will  even  think  of  shrinking  from  such  a  test  of 
their  claims.  None  who  are  unfit  but  will  be  forced 
out,  on  being  subjected  to  such  trial.  It  is  fair  to  all; 
it  is  unfair  to  none.     Let's  try  it  on  —  ourselves ! 


WHAT  IS  EDUCATION?  167 

Meantime,  let  us  bring  to  proof  a  few  who  have  here- 
tofore been  judged  only  by  the  old  standards,  and  see 
how  they  endure  the  test. 

Ministers  are  counted  educated  men,  anywhere  and 
everywhere.  I  do  not  say  they  are  not  educated  men, 
but  bring  them  to  old  Mike's  proof,  and  then  see. 

Did  you  ever  see  a  clergyman  who  was  not  "  onto 
his  job "  ?  Were  you  ever  forced  to  sit  "  under  the 
droppings  of  a  sanctuary"  whose  overflow  was  a  total 
stranger  to  the  river  of  the  water  of  life  ?  If  so,  could 
you  honestly  say,  or  even  think,  that  such  a  minister 
was  an  educated  man  ? 

Lawyers  are  counted  as  educated  men.  Did  you 
ever  know  a  lawyer  who  was  not  "  onto  his  job  "  ?  If 
the  empty  pocket  books  that  have  been  made  void  by 
incompetent  "  counsel "  could  set  up  a  wail,  there  would 
be  a  noise. 

Doctors  are  counted  as  educated  men.  Did  you  ever 
see  a  doctor  who  was  not  "  onto  his  job "  ?  If  our 
graveyards  could  tell  stories,  they  would  startle  multi- 
tudes with  their  revelations. 

School  teachers  are  counted  as  educated.  Did  you 
ever  see  a  school  teacher  who  was  not  "onto  his  job  "  ? 
If  the  thousands  of  children  who  have  been  made  the 
victims  of  incompetents  in  the  schoolroom  could  tell 
the  truth  about  what  has  been  done  to  them,  their 
stories  would  make  the  very  stones  cry  out. 

But  I  will  not  extend  the  list.  The  principle  involved 
is  all  I  care  about.  My  point  is,  that  old  Mike's  test  is 
a  true  one,  apply  it  where  we  will.  Bring  to  it  not  only 
those  I  have  named,  but  bring  also  any  and  all  others, 
from  any  and  all  crafts,  trades,  or  professions  whatso- 
ever, and  the  result  is  the  same.     If  they  are  "  onto 


1 68       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

their  jobs,"  they  are  educated  in  their  respective  lines. 
If  they  fail  in  doing  well  the  work  they  undertake  to 
do,  they  are  not  educated,  no  matter  what  their  repu- 
tations for  education  may  be,  or  what  their  written  or 
printed  credentials  may  say  about  it.  The  test  is  final, 
and  from  it  there  can  be  no  appeal.  There  is  no  higher 
court  to  bring  the  case  before. 

It  is  the  business  of  our  public  schools  so  to  train  all 
the  children  of  all  the  people  that  they  shall  be  onto 
their  respective  jobs,  all  of  them,  when  they  are  grown 
to  be  men  and  women ;  for  so,  and  so  only,  will  these 
same  men  and  women  make  first  class  citizens ;  so,  only, 
will  they  fill  to  the  full  their  respective  places  as  worthy 
members  of  the  commonwealth ;  so,  only,  will  they 
demonstrate  the  proposition  that  the  state  is  justified 
in  taxing  all  the  people  to  give  all  the  children  an 
education. 

This,  then,  is  what  an  education  really  is;  namely,  a 
training  for  life  that  will  fit  the  individual  to  do  well  the 
thing  he  undertakes,  no  matter  what  that  thing  may  be. 
This  is  genuine'  righteousness.  Its  pursuit  is  the  build- 
ing of  character,  and  it  is  all  good  for  the  soul.  And 
this  is  only  another  way  of  saying  that  it  is  religion, 
pure  and  undefiled. 

Truly  Walt  Whitman  says,  "  How  close  our  work  is 
holding  us  to  God,  the  Loving  Laborer  through  time 
and  space."  Only  that  is  education  which  teaches  us 
to  work  as  God  works,  true  to  the  line,  every  stroke. 


CHAPTER   XX 

WHAT   EDUCATION   MUST   DO   FOR  A  CHILD 

Memory -knowledge  and  Manual  Labor  —  Work  generally  counted  a 
Disgrace  —  Predominance  of  Girls  in  High  Schools  —  Results  of 
this  —  Reasons  given  for  Such  Condition  —  Monarchy  and  Democ- 
racy Again  —  The  "  Throne  "  Idea  —  College  Products  and  Physi- 
cal Labor  —  Professional  Men  and  Sons  of  the  Wealthy  —  Rural 
Theories  and  Practices  Resulting  —  Labor  not  a  Curse  but  a 
Blessing. 

We  can  never  educate  all  the  children  of  all  the  peo- 
ple till  we  change  our  inherited  thought  as  to  what  an 
education  will  do  for  a  child.  As  things  are  now,  there 
is  one  idea  that  is  most  prominent  in  the  general  mind 
on  this  score,  and  it  is  one  of  the  ideas  that  it  will  be  ex- 
ceedingly difficult  to  get  rid  of  because  it  is  so  generally 
diffused  among  our  people.  It  is  the  notion  that  if  a 
child  gets  a  good  memory-knowledge  of  books  he  will 
thereby  be  relieved  from  the  necessity  of  working  with 
his  hands,  and  that  to  work  with  one's  hands  is  dis- 
graceful. 

It  is  really  wonderful  how  widespread  and  deep- 
seated  this  notion  is.  It  pervades  all  classes  of  society, 
from  the  lowest  to  the  highest.  An  old  washerwoman 
said  to  me,  the  other  day :  "  I'm  workin'  hard  to  keep 
Mary  Ann  in  school,  so  I  am,  so  that,  whin  she  gets  as 
old  as  her  poor  old  mother  is,  she  won't  have  to  work 
as  hard  as  her  poor  old  mother  does."  That  tells  the 
whole  story,  from  that  viewpoint ;  and,  put  in  varying 

169 


lyo       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE   PEOPLE 

phrase,  according  to  the  different  ranks  of  society,  it 
embodies  the  popular  idea  all  along  the  line. 

A  little  while  ago  I  visited  a  high  school  in  one  of 
our  middle-sized  cities,  and  I  stood  by  the  side  of  one 
of  the  teachers,  in  the  hall,  as  the  pupils  passed  along 
to  their  classes.  The  great  majority  of  these  pupils 
were  girls  (it  is  so  the  country  over),  and  a  fine-looking 
company  they  were.  (This  also  is  common.)  And  I 
said  to  the  teacher :  "  I  wonder  if  one  of  those  girls 
would  be  willing  to  marry  a  man  who  had  a  hard  hand 
that  had  to  get  dirty  in  doing  its  work." 

And  the  teacher  turned  to  me  with  a  look  of  amaze- 
ment, tinctured  with  disgust,  as  she  replied  :  "  Why 
should  any  one  of  them  ever  be  willing  to  do  such  an 
unworthy  thing,  a  thing  so  thoroughly  beneath  her  ?  I 
trust  they  have  all  been  educated  above  such  things." 
And  there  you  are ! 

And  yet,  the  great  bulk  of  the  men  of  this  nation 
have  got  to  get  dirty  hands  in  doing  their  work.  The 
vast  majority  of  our  men  folk  have  got  to  earn  their 
living  by  labor  that  necessitates  soiling  of  the  hands. 
There  is  no  such  thing  as  putting  this  fact  out  of  the 
way,  and  we  might  as  well  face  it,  one  time  as  another. 

And  these  girls  that  I  saw  in  that  high  school  are 
the  natural  mates  for  young  men  who  have  to  dirty 
their  hands  with  manual  labor.  They  are  from  similar 
families,  have  similar  parentage,  live  in  similar  homes, 
eat  at  similar  tables.  They  are  the  sisters  of  young  men 
who  have  to  *'  work  for  a  living,"  They  should  be  the 
sweethearts  and  wives  of  young  men  who  have  to  work 
for  a  living  —  helpmeets  for  them,  in  the  fullest  sense 
of  that  practical  old  word.  But  will  such  a  training  as 
the  girls  I  saw  were  having  in  that  high  school,  and 


WHAT  EDUCATION  MUST  DO  FOR  A  CHILD       171 

under  that  teacher  (and  the  case  is  not  exceptional), 
bring  them  to  their  own  —  their  natural  own,  on  this 
count  ?  And  if  it  does  not  do  this,  but  does  the  very 
reverse  of  this,  what  about  it  ? 

Now  the  fact  is,  there  ought  not  to  be  such  an  over- 
whelming majority  of  girls  in  our  high  schools  as  we 
now  find  there.  And  there  would  not  be  —  there  will 
not  be,  when  we  fashion  these  schools  along  new  lines, 
on  the  basic  idea  of  the  real  place  of  work  in  the  world. 

As  it  is  now,  the  great  bulk  of  our  boys  drop  out  of 
our  schools  at  the  end  of  the  grammar  grade,  and  there 
they  and  their  sisters  part  company. 

And  this  is  bad.  They  and  their  sisters  need  to  be 
kept  together,  for  more  reasons  than  I  can  stop  to  tell 
about  here.  But  won't  you  take  time  honestly  to  think 
out  a  few  of  these  reasons,  and  ask  yourself  what  can 
best  be  done  about  these  things,  in  view  of  their  far- 
reaching  importance  —  think  what  can  be  done  about 
them  in  your  school,  or  with  your  children  ? 

If  you  stop  to  think  about  it  thus,  you  will  see  that  the 
cause  for  our  popular  thought  regarding  the  lack  of  dig- 
nity of  manual  labor  reaches  back  into  the  far-away  past, 
and  that  it  is  grounded  in  the  monarchical  idea  of  social 
life  and  of  political  institutions.  As  generally  thought 
of,  it  is  counted  to  be  the  mission  of  manual  labor  to  serve. 
It  is  almost  never  considered  as  worthy  for  its  own  sake. 
Imagine  one  saying  "manual  labor  for  manual  labor's 
sake"!  We  have  been  taught  to  say  "art  for  art's 
sake,"  time  out  of  mind.  We  have  also  been  taught 
that  "  that's  different."  Is  it  ?  I  know  that  it  is  gener- 
ally thought  to  be  so,  but  is  it  ? 

The  fundamental  principle  that  underlies  a  throne  is 
that  it,  and  all  that  it  stands  for,  must  be  served  ;  and  that 


172        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

he  who  serves  is  —  must  be  —  held  in  subjection,  and 
therefore  humiliated  by  such  service.  Men  and  women 
who  have  breathed  free  air  do  not  like  to  be  in  subjection 
and  humiliated.  And  because  manual  labor  has  for  so 
long  had  the  badge  of  meniality  fastened  about  its  neck, 
for  this  reason  men  and  women  who  wish  to  count  them- 
selves as  "free  and  equal "  are  anxious  to  put  themselves 
and  their  children  as  far  as  possible  from  the  supposedly 
accursed  thing.  Right  here  is  the  core  of  the  great 
desire  of  the  multitudes  to  free  themselves  from  what 
they  have  been  taught,  for  ages,  is  the  degradation  of 
labor. 

There  is  another  thing  that  leads  to  the  same  result, 
and  that  gives  a  special  trend  to  what  the  multitudes 
desire  to  do  in  these  days,  in  lieu  of  working  with  their 
hands,  shows  up  very  plainly  when  we  look  at  the  history 
of  what  has  so  long  been  called  education,  and  of  those 
who  have  been  counted  as  making  up  the  educated 
classes.  A  moment's  thought  will  reveal  the  fact  that 
none  of  these  educated  people  worked  with  their  hands ; 
and  the  result  of  going  to  educational  institutions,  as  they 
have  existed,  time  out  of  mind,  has  always  been  some- 
thing other  than  manual  labor.  Clergymen,  lawyers, 
doctors,  teachers,  and  always  the  sons  of  gentlemen  who 
had  money  enough  to  live  without  working  —  these,  and 
their  likes,  have  been  the  "  output "  of  the  schools  for 
centuries.  I  have  said  that  before,  but  it  needs  saying 
more  than  once. 

And  so,  because  these  two  things  have  existed  to- 
gether, because  those  who  have  been  to  the  schools  did 
not  work  with  their  hands,  the  notion  grew  up  that, 
somehow,  the  one  was  the  cause  of  the  other,  and  that 
to  have  an  education  exempted  one  from  the  necessity 


WHAT  EDUCATION  MUST  DO  FOR  A  CHILD       173 

of  manual  labor.  And  because  manual  labor  is  counted 
as  something  to  be  shunned  on  account  of  the  bad  name 
attached  to  it,  and  since  men  and  women  have  learned 
to  think  that  an  education  will  free  them  from  its  sup- 
posed thraldom,  for  these  reasons  multitudes  of  those 
who  have  labored  with  their  hands  in  the  past  are  es- 
pecially anxious  to  have  their  children  acquire  an  educa- 
tion so  that  they  will  be  relieved  from  the  necessity  of 
work. 

How  often  have  I  heard  some  good  old  farmer  and 
his  wife  say :  "  We  don't  want  to  have  our  children 
work  as  hard  as  we  have  worked.  We  had  better  move 
to  town  and  give  them  an  education,  so  that  they  won't 
have  to  work  when  they  are  grown  up."  And  how 
often  have  I  seen  these  same  people  move  to  town, 
prompted  by  such  a  motive,  bringing  with  them  a 
healthy  and  hearty  lot  of  boys  and  girls  of  whom  they 
might  well  be  proud,  but  of  whom  they  are  practically 
more  than  half  ashamed.  And  how  often  have  I  seen 
these  same  children  fit  only  to  be  ashamed  of  in  a  few 
years,  the  boys  cigarette  fiends,  carrying  canes  and 
walking  like  dudes,  and  the  girls  devoted  to  dress  and 
society  only ! 

I  have  not  one  word  to  say  against  farmers  moving 
to  town  to  educate  their  children,  or  against  their  truly 
educating  them  in  any  way  they  can  ;  but  one  thing  that 
I  do  protest  against  is  the  purpose  that  underlies  their 
trying  to  educate  them,  in  so  many  cases,  and  as  so 
often  seen.  They  are  the  victims,  parents  and  children 
alike,  of  the  fallacious  idea  that  labor  is  a  curse,  and 
that  a  book  education  will  free  one  from  its  taint.  They 
are  far  more  to  be  pitied  than  blamed ;  but,  more  than 
all,  they  need  to  be  helped  out  of  their  unfortunate  con- 


174       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

dition,  they  need  to  have  their  eyes  opened  to  the  truth 
in  the  premises. 

What  our  public  schools  must  do  is  to  enter  upon 
such  courses  of  instruction  and  training  as  will  dignify 
and  deify  labor.  Their  work  must  be  such  as  con- 
stantly to  impress  upon  the  children  who  attend  them 
the  fact  that  no  one  calling,  in  and  of  itself,  is  more 
sacred  than  another,  no  one  more  honorable  or  more  de- 
grading than  another.  They  must  teach  that  the  plow- 
share is  fully  as  worthy  a  piece  of  steel  as  the  sword, 
and  that  it  is  at  least  as  honorable  to  serve  humanity  in 
a  corn  field  as  on  a  battle  field.  They  must  instill  into 
the  minds  of  the  children  the  great  truth  that  any  and 
all  work  well  done  is  honorable,  ever  and  always,  and 
that  a  botch  is  an  abomination  in  the  sight  of  God,  no 
matter  where,  or  surrounded  with  what  supposed  badges 
of  honor  and  respectability  the  shoddy-weaving  be  done. 

Doubtless  it  is  a  part  of  the  work  of  our  public  schools 
to  fit  some  of  our  boys  and  girls  for  professional  work 
that  will  not  require  manual  labor  at  their  hands ;  but 
since  the  great  bulk  of  our  young  people  must  labor 
with  their  hands  when  they  are  grown,  it  is  the  duty  of 
our  schools  to  fit  them  also  for  their  particular  work 
in  life,  work  which  they  cannot  avoid,  and  which  it  is 
wicked  to  teach  them  they  ought  to  wish  or  try  to 
avoid. 

We  shall  never  succeed  in  educating  all  of  the  chil- 
dren of  all  of  the  people,  till  we  first  succeed  in  establish- 
ing in  the  minds  of  our  people  the  great,  basic  truth  that 
labor  is  not  a  curse  but  a  blessing,  and  that  it  is  not  the 
purpose  of  an  education  to  free  a  child  from  the  neces- 
sity of  labor  —  manual  labor  included  —  when  he  is 
grown ;  but  that  its  end  and  aim  is  to  fit  him  so  that  he 


WHAT  EDUCATION  MUST  DO  FOR  A   CHILD       175 

can  do,  to  perfection,  the  work  in  this  world  that  he  un- 
dertakes, or  is  set  to  perform.  When  the  people  fully 
comprehend  and  accept  this  idea  of  the  mission  of  edu- 
cation in  social  life,  then  our  schools  will  be  fashioned 
accordingly ;  and  then,  and  not  till  then,  will  they  ac- 
complish what  their  founders,  and  those  who  have  fos- 
tered them,  have  always  hoped  they  would  one  day 
accomplish. 


CHAPTER   XXI 

SYMPATHETIC  VIBRATION 

An  Analogical  Essay  —  Why  this  is  Needful  just  here  —  Wireless 
Telegraphy  —  The  Principle  of  "Sympathy"  Stated  —  Tuning 
Fork  Illustration  —  "  Responsive  Humming  "  —  Application  of 
the  Principle  to  Schoolroom  Work  —  What  the  System  now 
Demands  —  What  Teachers  are  thus  Compelled  to  do  —  What 
should  be  done  —  How  a  Strong  Vibration  may  Liberate  Others  — 
Functional  Powers  which  are  Clogged  —  The  Expelled  Boy  who 
became  an  Expert  Chemist  —  Answer  to  the  "One-sided  "  Objec- 
tion —  Relative  Values  of  "  Hums  "  —  Crowbar  vs.  Marconi  Point 
—  The  "Real  Thing." 

And  now,  having  cleared  away  a  lot  of  the  rubbish 
which  the  years  have  piled  in  the  path  of  what  seems  to 
me  to  be  true  education  and  right  educational  theories 
and  methods,  as  a  prelude  to  the  positive  constructive 
work  that  lies  before  me  I  am  going  to  sandwich  in, 
just  here,  a  sort  of  analogical  essay  under  the  title  of 
Sympathetic  Vibration,  which  I  believe  will  be  worth  to 
the  reader  all  the  space  it  takes  up  in  these  pages  and 
the  time  it  takes  to  read  it. 

I  thought,  at  first,  to  just  use  the  term  "sympathetic 
vibration "  and  let  it  go  at  that.  But  on  talking  with 
teachers  and  some  of  my  friends  about  what  was  meant 
by  these  words,  I  found  that  not  one  in  scores  of  them 
knew  anything  about  it  —  an  experience  which  convinced 
me  that  I  must  explain  the  principle  in  detail  if  I  used 
it  at  all,  (To  say  this  may  not  be  complimentary  to  my 
friends  and  the  teachers  I  talked  with,  nor  to  the  reader, 

176 


SYMPATHETIC  VIBRATION  1 77 

but  it  was  true  of  those  I  spoke  with,  anyhow.  If  you, 
dear  reader,  know  all  about  it  now,  skip  this  chapter. 
If  not,  read  it  all,  carefully.) 

Wireless  telegraphy  has  done  more  than  any  other 
thing  in  recent  times  to  set  one  thinking  about  still 
more  wonderful  phenomena  that  may  lie  in  the  same 
general  direction  —  may  be  based  on  the  same  principle 
as  this  marvelous  invention,  namely,  those  of  sympathetic 
vibration. 

This  principle  is  nothing  new  in  the  scientific  world, 
but  Marconi's  application  of  it,  in  heretofore  unknown 
regions,  bids  fair  to  revolutionize  the  civilization  of  the 
age.  The  fable  of  stealing  fire  from  heaven,  and  of  what 
that  act  did  for  mankind,  is  as  a  trifle  compared  with  what 
this  talking  through  the  air  is  destined  to  do  for  human- 
ity. Already  it  has  changed  all  the  possibilities  of  war, 
both  on  land  and  on  sea ;  and  when  the  fighting  ability 
of  a  world  is  remodeled,  the  whole  social  fabric  is 
affected  to  a  tremendous  degree.  And  that  is  only  one 
of  the  marvels  of  this  latest  of  modern  discoveries. 

Briefly  stated,  the  principle  is  this :  If  a  certain  vibra- 
tion is  set  going  in  a  given  plane,  its  waves  go  out  in  all 
directions  from  the  originating  point,  and  pervade  all  the 
space  covered  by  a  circle  of  greater  or  less  extent.  Now 
if,  a  vibration  having  been  set  up,  there  be  within  the 
affected  space  any  other  body  or  bodies  that  would 
naturally  give  forth  just  the  same  number  and  kind  of 
vibrations  as  are  given  out  by  the  one  already  in  motion, 
then  those  others  will  take  up  the  vibration,  on  their  own 
account,  and  begin  to  vibrate  in  harmony  with  whatever 
is  giving  out  the  original  waves.  That  is,  they  will 
vibrate  in  sympathy  with  something  that  is  already 
vibrating,  rather  than  because  they  are  directly  set  in 


178       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF   ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

motion  themselves.  This  is  what  is  called  sympathetic 
vibration. 

Take  a  simple  illustration,  which  you  can  easily  verify 
if  you  care  to  do  so :  Suppose  you  take  two  common 
tuning  forks  which,  being  struck,  both  give  forth  the 
tone  of  A  of  the  musical  scale.  Bore  a  hole  in  each  of 
two  wooden  blocks,  and  set  the  forks  up  on  their  handles 
in  these  holes,  one  in  each  block.  Set  one  of  these 
blocks,  with  its  fork  inserted,  on  a  table  at  one  end  of  a 
room,  and  put  the  other  block  and  fork  somewhere  at 
the  other  end  of  the  room.  Now  if  you  will  strike  one 
of  these  block-supported  forks  vigorously ;  or,  better 
still,  draw  a  fiddle  bow  across  it  with  considerable  force, 
and  so  set  it  to  humming,  so  that  it  will  give  forth  a 
good  full  tone,  and  will  keep  this  up  for  a  few  seconds, 
the  fork  at  the  other  end  of  the  room  will  begin  to 
vibrate  without  your  touching  it  at  all,  and  you  can  thus 
cause  it  to  give  out  so  strong  a  tone  that  it  can  be  heard 
all  over  the  room.  Indeed,  when  you  get  it  once  well 
humming,  from  sympathy  with  the  original,  you  can  put 
your  hand  on  the  first  fork,  the  one  you  made  to  vibrate 
directly,  thereby  stopping  its  vibrations,  and  the  fork  that 
was  made  to  hum  sympathetically  will  keep  on  vibrating 
for  some  seconds  afterwards.  This  is  a  very  simple  and 
beautiful  experiment,  and  well  repays  the  making. 

This  principle  of  sympathetic  vibration  is  the  basis  of 
Mr.  Marconi's  wireless  telegraphy,  only  he  uses  mag- 
netic vibrations  instead  of  sound  vibrations  to  secure  his 
results. 

Now  suppose,  instead  of  having  two  A  tuning  forks, 
you  have  two  sets  of  similar  forks,  covering  all  the  tones 
from  A  to  G  in  the  musical  scale.  Suppose  these  to  be 
mounted  on  blocks,  as  before,  and  one  set  put  at  one 


SYMPATHETIC  VIBRATION  1 79 

end  of  a  room,  and  the  other  set  at  the  other  end  of  the 
room,  as  in  the  other  case. 

Now  if  you  strike  the  A  of  one  set,  the  A  in  the  other 
set  will  vibrate  sympathetically ;  but  that  is  all  the  re- 
sponse you  will  get  from  the  whole  row  of  forks.  The 
B,  C,  D,  E,  F,  and  G  will  be  as  silent  as  though  there 
were  no  such  thing  as  vibration  in  all  the  world.  The 
same  thing  will  occur  if  you  strike  any  other  one  fork, 
as  B,  or  C,  or  E,  etc.  The  corresponding  fork  will  vi- 
brate, and  all  the  rest  will  be  dumb.  Or,  if  you  strike 
all  seven  of  one  set,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  all  the 
other  seven  will  vibrate  in  response,  each  fork  picking 
out  its  own  particular  vibrations  from  what  seems  to  be 
a  jangle  of  sounds.  None  of  them  will  get  mixed  up, 
none  will  fail  to  respond. 

Now,  suppose  you  had  a  row  of  seven  forks,  ranging 
from  A  to  G,  on  one  side  of  the  room,  and  on  the  other 
side  a  row  of  forks  that  had  never  been  tested,  but 
which  were  theoretically  supposed  to  be  the  same  as 
those  you  knew  about ;  and  suppose,  further,  that  it  was 
your  business  to  set  up  vibration  in  the  forks  that  you 
really  did  not  know  about,  but  which  were  supposed  to 
be  so  and  so,  by  causing  them  to  vibrate  sympathetically 
with  your  own  bank  of  forks.  And  suppose,  too,  that  you 
had  been  taught  that  the  only  correct  way  to  set  up  sym- 
pathetic vibrations  in  an  unknown  row  of  forks  was  to 
begin  with  your  own  A  fork,  and  to  secure  a  response 
from  a  corresponding  fork  of  that  particular  key,  from 
across  the  room,  before  you  proceeded  any  further,  or 
tried  any  other  forks  in  the  row !  So  you  strike  your 
A,  and  look  for  a  sympathetic  vibration  from  across  the 
room.  And  suppose  there  be  no  response,  nothing  but 
silence  like  the  grave  ! 


l8o       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

And  then  suppose  you  say :  "  I  must  get  a  response 
from  this  A,  and  I  will!"  So  you  pound  away  on 
your  A,  and  keep  pounding,  and  still  nothing  comes  of 
it  from  the  other  side  of  the  house.  You  pound  and 
listen,  and  then  pound  and  listen  again,  but  it  all  goes 
for  nothing. 

Then  suppose  you  fall  back  on  the  authorities  that 
you  may  have  spent  years  in  becoming  acquainted  with, 
and  which  say :  "  In  order  to  awaken  a  sympathetic 
vibration  in  a  bank  of  forks  across  the  room,  first  strike 
your  own  A,  and  get  a  sympathetic  response  from  that 
before  proceeding  further,  etc."  Moreover,  suppose 
the  System  you  are  serving  under  says  to  you :  "  You 
must  get  a  response  from  A  before  you  do  anything 
else.  In  order  that  the  forks  across  the  room  may  be 
regularly  graded,  it  is  necessary  that  the  A  be  developed 
in  the  row,  and  that  particular  tone  be  first  forthcoming. 
The  System  demands  this,  and  you  must  bring  about 
such  a  result  if  you  expect  to  stay  where  you  are." 
Then  what  ? 

Then,  in  the  language  of  the  wicked  world,  "  you  are 
up  against  it,"  and  it  is  no  wonder  that  you  grow  des- 
perate. So  you  pound  away  on  your  A  till  you  are 
nearly  wild ;  and  when  no  response  comes  you  do  one 
of  two  things :  either  you  manage  somehow  to  fabri- 
cate some  kind  of  a  noise  on  the  other  side  of  the  room 
that,  for  the  time  being  (examination  day),  will  sound 
something  like  an  A  vibration ;  or  else  you  say,  "  The 
forks  on  the  other  side  of  the  room  are  worthless,  and  I 
will  throw  them  all  out  and  be  rid  of  them,  for  they  are 
not  worth  bothering  with  !  "  And  so  you  "  drop  "  or 
"  expel "  the  whole  outfit ! 

Is  my  analogy  too  severe?     I  think  not.     The  fact 


SYMPATHETIC  VIBRATION  l8l 

is,  there  is  nothing  the  matter  with  your  A,  nor  with 
the  row  of  forks  across  the  room.  The  only  trouble 
Ues  in  the  fact  that  you  are  trying  to  do  the  impossible, 
to  arouse  a  sympathetic  vibration  where  there  is  noth- 
ing in  sympathy  to  vibrate.  The  only  difficulty  with 
the  row  of  forks  across  the  room  is  that  they  have  no  A 
in  their  rozv  !  But  they  may  have  a  first-class  B  and  C 
and  D  and  E  and  F  and  G.  And  if  you  would  only 
strike,  or  be  permitted  to  strike,  one  or  all  of  these  in 
your  own  bank,  there  would  be  no  trouble  about  getting 
a  response  from  their  correspondents  across  the  room. 

Or,  having  tried  to  get  a  response  from  A,  and  having 
failed,  would  it  not  be  good  common  sense  to  try  some 
other  fork  before  condemning  the  whole  row  opposite, 
or  before  throwing  them  all  out  to  rust  in  the  gutter ,-' 

Or,  knowing  that  there  are  forks  in  the  other  bank 
that  can  and  do  vibrate  "just  naturally,"  would  it  not 
be  a  shame  to  muffle  these  and  declare  that  they  should 
never  give  forth  a  single  wave  of  sound  till  an  A-tone 
of  more  or  less  volume  could  be  developed .'' 

How  simple  all  these  questions  seem  when  they  re- 
late to  tuning  forks !  I  beheve  they  are  just  as  simple, 
and  as  apropos,  when  they  relate  to  boys  and  girls. 
These  "  born  short "  pupils,  of  the  thousand-and-one 
varieties,  fail  to  respond  to  our  efforts  to  arouse  them 
sympathetically  because  there  is  nothing  in  them  that 
will,  at  that  time,  vibrate  in  harmony  with  the  particular 
vibrations  that  we  set  up.  If  you  doubt  this,  watch  any 
such  pupil,  and  you  cannot  fail  to  be  convinced  of  the 
truth  of  my  proposition.  In  such  cases,  the  child's  eye 
gives  forth  no  answering  Hght,  his  face  is  as  blank  as  a 
bare  wall,  and  his  whole  being  expresses  only  inanity. 
But  touch  this  same  child  on  a  key  that  he  can  vibrate 


l82        ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

in  harmony  with,  and  you  have  a  live  being  on  the  in- 
stant.    We  all  know  how  it  is, 

"  But,"  some  one  says,  "  should  not  every  well-bal- 
anced set  of  tuning  forks  have  an  A  ?  Is  it  right  to 
permit  such  a  bank  to  continue  to  exist  in  a  partially 
completed  condition  ?  Should  we  not  make  it  our  chief 
endeavor  to  remedy  the  deficiency,  and  so  make  perfect 
harmony  possible  ?  "  Or,  applied  to  boys  and  girls,  the 
question  is  asked  :  "  Are  we  not  in  danger  of  making 
one-sided  people  if  we  permit  them  to  grow  where  they 
are  naturally  strong,  and  do  not  compel  them  to  keep 
an  even  pace  with  all  the  faculties  of  the  human  mind  ? " 

To  which  I  make  reply :  In  the  case  of  the  tuning 
forks,  it  is  doubtless  possible  to  buy  the  missing  links 
in  the  open  market,  and  duly  install  them  in  their 
proper  places ;  but  when  it  comes  to  boys  and  girls,  the 
thing  cannot  be  done  in  that  way.  There  is  no  shop  in 
all  the  world  that  manufactures  human  capabilities  and 
keeps  them  on  sale ! 

And,  more  than  that,  I  do  not  believe  there  is  a 
thousandth  part  of  the  danger  that  is  so  generally  talked, 
of  developing  one-sided  people  by  permitting  them  to 
move  out  strongly  along  the  lines  of  their  native  abili- 
ties. On  the  contrary,  I  am  thoroughly  convinced  that 
the  most  promising  way  to  get  an  individual  to  grow 
strong  where  he  is  naturally  weak  is  to  give  him  a 
chance  to  use  his  strength  where  he  has  the  ability  to 
do  so. 

If  a  given  bank  of  forks  seems  to  be  minus  an  A, 
you  can  never  develop  one  in  that  bank  by  merely 
sounding  your  own  A.  But  strike  all  the  rest  of  your 
row,  and  get  a  good  strong  vibration  from  the  other 
forks   in   response,   and    something    may   come   of   it. 


SYMPATHETIC  VIBRATION  183 

Perhaps  the  A  in  the  other  bank  is  cobwebbed,  or 
muffled  in  some  way,  and  if  you  can  give  the  rest  of 
the  row  a  good  vigorous  shaking  up,  so  that  its  very 
foundation  trembles  in  response,  you  may,  perchance, 
jar  the  A  loose,  and  get  a  hum  from  it  when  you  were 
least  expecting  it.  I  have  seen  such  an  outcome  more 
than  once.  But  I  never  saw  much  of  any  good  come 
from  trying  to  force  a  sympathetic  vibration.  That  is 
not  nature's  way  —  God's  way! 

As  a  case  in  point,  I  once  knew  a  boy  who  was  an 
"  incorrigible  "  in  school  for  years.  He  had  been  sus- 
pended and  expelled,  time  and  again.  When  he  was 
about  sixteen,  the  superintendent  met  him  on  the  street 
one  day,  and  said  to  him :  "  George,  is  there  anything 
in  school  that  you  would  really  like  to  study .-' "  And 
the  boy  replied:  "Yes,  I've  always  wanted  to  study 
chemistry,  but  I  shall  never  know  enough  to  do  it."  And 
the  superintendent  said :  "  If  you  will  come  to  school 
to-morrow,  I'll  put  you  into  a  chemistry  class,  and  you 
needn't  study  anything  else."  The  boy  agreed,  and 
the  experiment  was  tried. 

Before  the  first  term  was  over,  this  boy  slept  in  the 
school  laboratory  every  night  for  a  whole  week,  in  order 
to  keep  continuous  watch  of  some  delicate  experiments 
he  was  making.  He  stuck  to  the  work  till  he  had  done 
all  the  chemistry  that  could  be  done  in  the  local  school ; 
and  then,  though  he  was  woefully  deficient  in  nearly  all 
the  other  high  school  studies,  the  superintendent  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  him  admitted  to  the  chemistry  course 
in  one  of  the  best  colleges  in  the  country,  where  he 
led  his  class  in  his  favorite  study. 

I  saw  a  letter  written  to  the  superintendent  by  this 
boy  when  he  was  in  college.     There  was  scarcely  a 


184       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

misspelled  word  in  it,  and  the  composition  was  good. 
Yet  he  had  been  a  proverbially  poor  speller  in  school, 
and  he  was  once  expelled  because  he  simply  would  not 
do  written  language  work.  It  is  fair  to  say  that  there 
were  shortcomings  in  the  letter,  but  these  were  chiefly 
grammatical  errors,  which  were  the  result  of  environ- 
ment in  the  boy's  early  life,  such  as  the  use  of  "done" 
for  "did,"  and  "saw"  for  "seen,"  etc.  These  things 
are  bad,  I  grant;  but  is  it  not  far  better  to  have  a  live, 
decent  boy,  such  as  this  young  fellow  became,  with 
grammatical  errors  included,  than  to  have  a  worthless 
loafer,  such  as  he  would  most  surely  have  become  had 
he  not  been  set  on  his  feet  as  he  was  ?  That  is  the 
point,  and  there  can  be  but  one  answer. 

The  last  I  knew  of  the  young  man,  he  was  holding  a 
responsible  position  as  chemist  in  a  large  commercial 
establishment.  And  if  you  should  happen  to  meet  him 
at  dinner,  or  in  a  parlor,  or  in  any  ways  of  common 
social  life,  you  would  never  think  about  his  being  one- 
sided. 

Oh,  perhaps  if  you  are  "  long "  on  ancient  history, 
and  should  try  to  draw  him  out  on  the  details  of  your 
favorite  subject,  he  might  not  vibrate  fast  or  hard  just 
there.  But  he  could  easily  turn  the  tables  on  you  by 
"  a  turn  about  "  which  would  be  only  "  fair  play."  You 
might  detect  a  shortage  in  his  grammar,  and  be  sorry 
for  his  misfortune,  but  you  would  be  a  prig  if  you  failed 
to  see  in  him  a  very  bright  man,  or  if  you  turned  him 
down  because  of  his  weak  place. 

And  this  should  be  remembered,  too,  when  we  talk 
about  one-sided  people.  We  are  very  apt  to  set  a  man 
down  as  belonging  in  this  class  if  he  fails  to  respond  to 
our  own  particular  hum.     More  than  that,  we  are  wont 


SYMPATHETIC  VIBRATION  185 

to  count  some  hums  as  very  much  superior  to  other 
hums ;  and  we  are  quite  apt  to  be  cock-sure  that  our 
own  particular  hum  is  the  finest  in  all  the  world.  But 
the  fact  is,  there  is  not  nearly  the  difference  in  hum 
values  that  there  is  commonly  supposed  to  be;  and, 
always,  a  genuine  vibration  of  almost  any  sort  is  to  be 
preferred  to  one  that  is  merely  a  motion  gone  through 
with  because  it  is  the  proper  thing,  or  one  that  has  been 
manufactured  by  somebody  else,  and  somehow  fastened 
to  the  party  who  merely  shakes  according  to  rule. 

A  truly  sympathetic  vibration  is  a  joy  to  all  who  feel 
its  animating  thrill.  Its  counterfeit  is  not  only  a  bore  to 
all  parties  concerned,  but  it  is  a  dismal,  soul-destroying 
lie.  An  education  that  is  gained  by  the  sympathetic 
response  of  the  student  to  what  he  is  taught  is  a  live 
thing  that  will  endure,  and  always  be  full  of  value  and 
delight.  Knowledge  that  is  acquired  by  learning  things 
only  because  they  are  in  "  the  course  "  is  a  dead  thing 
that  will  be  buried  out  of  sight,  and  utterly  forgotten  in 
a  few  years,  at  most.  In  the  brief  space  that  it  shows 
semblance  of  life  it  will  prove  itself  valueless  and  a  de- 
lusion ;  and,  buried,  it  will  never  be  missed. 

A  machine-shaken  crowbar  is  not  a  sensitive  Marconi 
point.  Nevertheless,  it  may  be  a  first-class  crowbar. 
The  only  trouble  comes  in  trying  to  play  it  off  for  what 
it  is  not,  and  never  can  be.  A  good  crowbar  is  as  valu- 
able in  its  place  as  a  Marconi  point  is  in  its  place.  But 
it  is  not  well  to  try  to  make  either  take  the  place  of  the 
other.  The  analogy  holds  good  in  the  schoolrooms  of 
our  public  schools,  and  in  the  attempted  education  of 
all  the  children  of  all  the  people,  everywhere  and  always. 


CHAPTER   XXII 

EDUCATIONAL  VALUES 

The  Regular  and  Conventional  Views  on  this  Subject  — "  The 
Humanities "  —  Ability  to  read  Latin  and  Greek  a  Transient 
Acquirement  for  most  of  the  Classically  Educated  —  They  do  not 
"  hum  "  to  these  Studies  —  Ex-President  Eliot's  Testimony  — 
Educational  Value  of  Manual  Training  —  The  Real  Measure  of 
any  Educational  Value  —  Latin  Races,  Mathematics  and  Lan- 
guage —  The  Negro  and  Logical  Ability  —  Disregard  of  such 
Facts  depletes  the  Ranks  of  the  Ought-To-Be-Educated  —  Re- 
forms that  must  follow. 

The  methods  of  education  that  I  have  advocated  in 
these  pages  naturally  suggest  the  subject  of  educational 
values,  which  must  be  fairly  considered  from  this  new 
pedagogic  viewpoint,  in  any  comprehensive  treatment 
of  the  issue  in  hand. 

Since  time  out  of  mind,  educational  theorists  have 
had  much  to  say  regarding  the  relative  educational  value 
of  studies  of  various  sorts,  and  their  corresponding  worth 
as  a  means  for  developing  a  human  mind ;  and,  for  rea- 
sons that  I  cannot  go  into  here,  the  great  balance  of 
opinion  has  been,  for  many  years,  in  favor  of  the  classi- 
cal studies  of  Greek,  Latin,  and  history  (especially 
ancient  history)  as  being  the  most  potent  in  this  re- 
spect. In  addition  to  these,  mathematics  has  sometimes 
been  included.  The  classics  have  been  called  "the 
humanities,"  and  it  has  been  given  out,  over  and  over 
again,  ever  since  Plato's  time,  that  the  pursuit  of  these 
particular  studies  would  produce  a  wonderfully  mollify- 

i86 


EDUCATIONAL  VALUES  187 

ing,  gentlemanizing  effect  upon  all  those  who  pursued 
them. 

There  is  no  question  but  that  this  claim  is  true,  in 
some  cases,  perhaps  in  a  great  many,  where  people 
vibrate  that  way ;  but  it  is  very  far  from  being  true  for 
mankind  in  general  —  for  all  the  children  of  all  the 
people. 

The  simple  fact  is,  there  is  no  one  study,  or  set  of 
studies,  that  will  produce  uniformly  good  results  in  all 
cases,  for  all  children.  It  is  a  matter  of  individuality, 
of  personality,  here  as  elsewhere  in  all  the  ways  of  life. 
One  study  has  educational  value  for  one  child,  another 
for  another.  But,  always,  those  studies  which  will  set  a 
given  child  a-humming  are  the  ones,  and  the  only  ones 
worth  mentioning,  that  have  educational  value  for  that 
child.  If  Greek  and  Latin  will  do  this  for  any  child,  or 
for  any  number  of  children,  all  right.  And  there  is  a 
considerable  number  of  such  children,  I  am  sure ;  but 
that  the  number  is  as  great  as  the  devotees  of  the  "  hu- 
manities "  idea  have  led  us  to  think  —  of  this  I  am 
greatly  in  doubt. 

How  many  men  or  women  do  you  know  who  can  read 
either  Greek  or  Latin  to  amount  to  anything  ?  How 
many  pupils  have  you  ever  had  who  really  vibrated  in 
response  to  the  classics  .••  Some,  surely,  but  not  very 
many. 

A  college  president  told  me,  only  a  few  days  ago, 
that  he  did  not  think  five  men  in  one  hundred  who  had 
studied  the  classics  in  college  could  read  either  Greek 
or  Latin,  to  amount  to  much,  five  years  after  graduation 
day.  The  statement  is  his,  not  mine,  and  he  is  a  clas- 
sically educated  man,  one  who  believes  in  that  sort  of 
thing.     I    could   but   wonder,   though,    how   truly   the 


1 88       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

ninety-five,  who  forgot  within  five  years  the  languages 
they  had  spent  so  much  time  upon,  how  truly  they  ever 
hummed  to  these  languages,  and  of  how  much  educa- 
tional value  these  studies  really  were  to  those  who  pur- 
sued them. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  friend  of  mine  who  studied 
French  for  only  one  year,  and  that  under  a  very  poor 
teacher,  thirty-five  years  ago,  now  reads  that  language 
almost  as  well  as  she  reads  EngUsh.  But  she  hums  to 
that  language.  Her  geometry,  though,  that  she  spent 
weary  months  upon,  is  a  dead  thing  to  her  now,  and  has 
been  so  for  years.  The  question  is,  was  it  ever  alive, 
or  is  any  study  ever  alive  that  one  does  not  naturally 
vibrate  in  harmony  with  while  pursuing  it,  and  retain, 
readily,  ever  afterwards  ?     What  do  you  think  ? 

In  the  presence  of  facts  like  these,  to  make  a  course 
of  study  that  insists  that  a  pupil  must  vibrate  to  these 
classical  studies,  or  to  any  other  particular  studies,  if  he 
stays  in  school  at  all,  is  just  as  bad  as  possibly  can  be. 

On  this  point,  so  excellent  an  authority  as  ex-President 
Eliot,  of  Harvard,  has  recently  said  that  "  whatever 
study  is  well  and  thoroughly  taught  in  public  high 
schools,  taught  in  a  way  to  inspire  interest  and  give 
trained  mental  power,  is  of  genuine  educational  value." 
Which  is  only  another  way  of  saying  that  any  study 
that  the  pupil  vibrates  in  harmony  with,  is,  for  that 
child,  a  valuable  means  for  his  genuine  education. 
When  the  day  dawns  that  sees  all  the  college  presidents 
in  this  country  in  harmony  with  ex-President  Eliot  on 
this  count,  that  day  will  note  a  tremendous  advance  in 
all  the  educational  work  of  America.     Speed  the  day! 

For  the  sake  of  emphasizing  a  point  that  needs  bear- 
ing down  on  just  here,  I  call  the  reader's  attention  to 


EDUCATIONAL  VALUES  1 89 

the  fact  that  the  above-quoted  opinion  from  President 
Eliot  is  broad  enough  to  include  the  discipline  and  cul- 
ture that  comes  from  business  and  manual  training,  from 
actual,  practical  work  with  head  and  hands.  Here  is  a 
source  of  educational  value  that  has  never  been  very 
highly  thought  of,  that  has  never  counted  for  very  much, 
especially  in  the  eyes  of  those  who  have  been  reckoned 
as  educated  men  and  women.  Yet,  that  it  has  a  meas- 
ureless value  of  this  sort  for  multitudes  of  children, 
is  every  day  becoming  more  and  more  apparent.  In  a 
way  that  I  shall  speak  of  later  in  greater  detail,  manual 
training  initiates  and  develops  capacity  for  the  reception 
of  genuine  knowledge  that  is  a  great  factor  in  true 
educational  growth. 

Besides  this,  there  are  thousands,  yes,  millions  of  chil- 
dren in  this  country  that  will  vibrate  in  this  plane  of 
manual  work  (or,  at  least,  the  beginnings  of  their  vibra- 
tion can  be  assured  here),  who  can  never  respond  to  the 
stimulative  energies  included  in  a  regular  graded  school 
course,  to  amount  to  very  much.  But,  once  genuinely 
vibrating  in  a  plane  to  which  they  naturally  respond,  the 
possibility  of  getting  them  to  respond  in  still  other  planes 
is  greatly  increased.  The  point  is  that,  as  things  now 
are,  these  millions  of  children  who  fail  to  respond  as  the 
System  declares  they  must,  if  they  stay  in  the  schools  — 
these  children  are  dropped  out  of  the  schools  altogether, 
thereby  losing  that  culture,  training,  and  guidance  for 
mature  life  which  their  years  demand,  and  which  the 
school  ought  to  give  to  every  child  in  this  nation.  Man- 
ual training  would  keep  multitudes  of  these  children  in 
the  schools  a  great  deal  longer  than  they  now  stay  there, 
all  of  which  would  be  just  so  much  to  their  advantage. 

So,  then,  the  basic  need  in  determining  for  each  child 


IQO       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

what  studies  are  of  educational  value  to  him  or  to  her  is 
to  find  out  those  that  will  secure  a  genuine  response  from 
that  particular  child.  This  does  not  mean  that  a  child 
is  never  to  be  asked  or  required  to  set  himself  vigorously 
to  work  to  accomplish  a  task  that  may  not  be  altogether 
pleasant,  at  the  outset,  —  not  that  at  all.  Neither  does  it 
mean  that  if  a  pupil  does  not  take  immediate  delight  in 
a  given  study,  that  this  is  proof  positive  that  he  is  "  born 
short"  on  that  side,  and  so  should  never  be  asked  to 
pursue  that  study  further.  We  all  know,  though,  well 
enough,  just  what  it  does  mean.  We  know  that  it  is 
practically  useless,  and  often  wicked,  to  hold  a  pupil 
that  we  have  proved,  over  and  over  again,  has  no  apti- 
tude whatever  for  a  given  study  —  who  does  not  vibrate 
to  its  stimulating  energy  in  the  least  —  that  it  is  a  sin  to 
keep  such  a  student  at  such  work,  regardless  of  the  way 
he  is.  That  is  the  whole  story.  Such  work  will  rarely 
if  ever  do  him  any  good  at  all.  The  chances  are  many 
to  one  that  it  will  do  him  positive  harm.  I  have  seen 
such  results  in  multitudes  of  cases,  and  so  have  you, 
if  you  have  honestly  watched  the  phenomena. 

The  right  thing  to  do  is,  if  we  find  a  pupil  in  our  pub- 
lic schools  who  actually  fails  to  vibrate  to  a  given  stimu- 
lus, after  having  honestly  tried  to  do  so,  but  who  will 
vibrate  in  some  other  plane  —  the  thing  to  do  is  to  per- 
mit such  pupil  to  vibrate  where  he  can,  and  so  keep  him 
in  the  schools.  He  should  never  be  cast  out  because  he 
is  unable  to  vibrate  according  to  the  course,  or  just  as 
his  class  vibrates. 

Now,  the  fact  is,  there  are  not  only  individual  chil- 
dren, but  there  are  whole  races  of  children  who  lack  the 
ability  to  vibrate  in  certain  planes,  but  who  can  and  will 
vibrate,  strongly  and  well,  in  other  planes.      Thus,  the 


EDUCATIONAL  VALUES  191 

children  of  the  Latin  races  are,  for  the  most  part, 
"short"  on  the  mathematical  side  and  "long"  on  the 
language  and  artistic  sides  of  their  make-up.  Any 
teacher  who  has  had  experience  with  children  of  these 
nationalities  will  verify  this  statement. 

I  was  walking  on  the  streets  of  a  Pennsylvania  town 
with  the  superintendent  of  schools  one  day ;  and,  as  it 
was  a  few  minutes  after  four,  the  school  children  were 
just  on  their  way  home.  I  noticed  a  large  contingent 
of  Italian  children  in  the  groups  that  we  met  (it  was  in 
the  mining  region),  and  I  asked  the  superintendent  how 
these  children  got  along  in  his  schools.     And  he  said  :  — 

**  Oh,  they're  no  good.  They  go  a  little  while,  and 
then  they  all  drop  out.  You  will  notice  that  you  hardly 
saw  an  Italian  child  over  twelve  years  of  age  in  all  that 
we  have  met.  We  can't  hold  them,  to  amount  to  any- 
thing." 

And  I  said :  "  Why  not  ?  What's  the  reason  that 
they  don't  stay  with  you  ?  Do  they  drop  out  of  their 
own  accord,  or  do  you  drop  them  out  .-•  " 

To  which  he  replied:  "Oh,  they  can't  do  the  work. 
They  haven't  any  head  for  what  we  want,  not  one  in  a 
hundred  of  them." 

"What  haven't  they  got  a  head  for.?"  I  asked. 

"  They  all  fail  in  arithmetic  !  "  he  replied.  "  We 
simply  can't  get  them  to  do  enough  number  work  to 
keep  them  in  their  grades.  They  almost  always  fail  in 
their  arithmetic  examinations,  and  so  can't  go  on  with 
their  regular  grade  work;  so  they  stay  in  the  same 
grade  till  they  get  tired  of  it,  and  we  get  tired  of  them, 
and  then  they  drop  out." 

It  was  an  honest  answer.     But  — 

"  How  are  they  in  their  language  work  ?  "  I  asked. 


192        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

"  Wonderful !  "  he  replied. 

And  then  he  went  on  to  tell  about  a  couple  of  boys, 
whose  parents  had  recently  come  to  this  country  with 
them,  and  who  had  placed  them  in  school  but  a  few 
weeks  before.  The  boys  knew  not  a  word  of  English 
when  they  entered  the  school;  and  yet,  he  said,  in  an 
incredibly  short  time  they  had  learned  to  read,  and  also 
to  write  beautifully. 

"  It  is  really  wonderful,"  he  added,  "  how  quickly  the 
little  rascals  will  pick  up  our  language,  not  only  these 
two,  but  the  whole  lot  of  them.  But  in  mathematics 
they  are  good  for  nothing.  These  two  boys  I  have 
spoken  of  will  go  for  a  while,  but  arithmetic  will  knock 
them  out  before  long,  as  it  does  all  the  rest  of  them. 
They  are  almost  all  of  them  happy  just  so  long  as  they 
can  read  a  book  or  make  pictures,  or  do  anything  in  the 
line  of  drawing ;  but  we  simply  can't  get  them  interested 
in  arithmetic  enough  to  hold  them  in  school." 

Now  this  seems  to  me  a  great  pity,  that  these  children 
should  be  put  beyond  the  sphere  of  influence  of  public 
schools  just  because  they  are  naturally  non-mathematical. 
For,  good  sooth,  what  is  mathematics  that  it  should  be 
made  the  sine  qua  non  of  good  citizenship  ?  And  good 
citizens  is  what  we  want  to  make  out  of  these  same 
Italian  children  —  good  American  citizens.  That  is 
what  the  public  schools  are  for,  above  everything  else, — 
to  make  good  citizens,  whether  they  are  good  mathe- 
maticians or  not.  And  one  can  be  a  good  citizen,  even 
if  he  be  a  poor  mathematician  ! 

But  if  we  fail  to  take  care  of  these  same  children;  if 
we  drop  them  out  of  the  schools  before  we  have  done 
much  of  anything  for  them,  simply  because  they  are 
unable  to  pursue  successfully  a  study  which  the  colleges 


EDUCATIONAL  VALUES 


193 


demand  for  admission  to  their  doors  —  if  we  do  this,  how 
can  we  much  longer  ask  all  the  people  to  pay  for  the 
support  of  these  same  schools  ?  That  is  a  question  that 
must  keep  us  watchful,  and  that  will  be  asked  in  dead 
earnest,  too,  in  the  not  very  distant  future. 

And  there  are  many  other  similar  situations,  all 
through  our  schools.  Negro  children,  are,  as  a  rule, 
deficient  in  mathematical  and  logical  ability.  Boys, 
take  them  as  they  run,  are  short  on  the  side  of  technical 
grammar  and  rhetoric.  What  thousands  of  them  have 
fallen  by  the  way  for  this  cause !  You  know  them, 
don't  you  ?  They  should  not  have  been  forced  out,  or 
lost  out,  of  our  schools  for  so  slight  a  cause.  When  it 
had  been  proved  that  they  could  not  attain  to  the  college- 
made  requirements  of  the  school  course,  then  a  just  and 
a  common-sense-made  course,  one  that  would  meet  their 
needs  and  abilities,  should  have  been  made;  one  that 
they  could  attain  to,  and  so  could  have  stayed  in  school. 
That  is  what  the  schools  are  for,  to  keep  children  under 
their  training  influences,  and  not  to  turn  them  out  be- 
cause they  fail  to  come  up  to  a  standard  that  an  outsider 
has  fixed  —  one  that  really  has  no  more  right  to  direct 
the  school  affairs  of  this  nation  than  any  other  private 
institution  has.  There  should  be  no  such  thing  as  graft 
in  our  schools,  and  the  colleges  of  this  country  should 
receive  no  more  favors  from  them  than  do  the  black- 
smith shops  or  the  farms. 

The  records  of  high  schools  show  that  a  very  large 
proportion,  sometimes  as  high  as  fifty  per  cent  of  the 
pupils  who  enter  them,  drop  out  at  the  end  of  the  first 
year.  And  a  further  study  will  reveal  the  fact  that 
at  least  eight  out  of  ten  of  the  pupils  that  have  thus 
dropped  out  have  "failed  to  pass"  in  Latin  or  algebra, 


194        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

or  both,  as  I  have  before  stated.  These  are  notorious 
facts,  which  are  known  to  every  high  school  teacher. 
It  is  getting  to  be  time  for  the  people  to  realize  them, 
and  to  have  something  done  for  them,  too. 

And  let  me  say  again  that,  in  calling  attention  to  these 
facts,  I  am  not  "attacking  the  colleges,"  nor  am  I  saying 
one  word  against  their  work,  as  such.  I  am  only  mak- 
ing the  point  that  our  colleges  and  universities  are  only 
some  among  many  educational  forces  in  this  broad  land 
of  ours,  and  that  the  particular  studies  which  they  insist 
upon  as  being  of  educational  value  are  only  a  few  among 
many  means  for  developing  the  human  mind,  for  form- 
ing sterling  individual  character,  for  making  first-class 
American  citizens. 

These  institutions  all  have  their  distinctive  educational 
work  to  do,  and  for  the  most  part,  they  are  doing  it  well, 
better  now  than  ever  before  ;  and  they  will  continue  to 
do  it  better  yet,  as  the  years  go  by.  But  they  are  not 
all  there  is  in  the  educational  world,  and  they  must  not 
be  permitted  to  dictate  to  our  public  schools,  nor  in  any 
way  to  hold  them  in  such  subjection  that  these  schools 
shall  fail,  in  large  measure,  to  meet  the  requirements 
of  practically  all  the  children  whose  needs  they  were 
brought  into  being  to  satisfy.  They  must  be  permitted 
to  have  their  share  of  the  work  done  in  these  schools. 
But  they  must  not  ask  for  all,  or  for  an  unfair  percent- 
age of  influence  or  advantage,  in  the  work  done  in  public 
schools  at  public  expense. 

Neither  must  they  claim  that  the  special  studies  they 
insist  on  are  alone  of  educational  value,  and  that  all 
others  are  of  secondary,  or  slight  importance.  Gradu- 
ally these  institutions  are  coming  to  recognize,  in  their 
own  curricula,  the  fact  that  any  study  is  of  educational 


EDUCATIONAL  VALUES  1 95 

value  that  the  student  genuinely  loves,  that  he  vibrates 
in  harmony  with,  that  he  pursues  with  zeal  and  with 
personal  interest ;  and  that  any  study  which  is  under- 
taken, or  labored  with,  in  any  other  way  than  this,  is 
not  truly  educative,  but  a  bore  and  cheat.  Seeing 
this,  our  leading  colleges  are  now  nearly  all  conducted 
upon  a  system  which  grants  all  the  points  I  am  con- 
tending for.  All  else  that  can  be  asked  is,  that  this 
method,  which  has  been  found  of  such  advantage  to 
the  colleges  and  universities,  should  be  passed  on  down 
the  line,  and  so  be  made  available  for  our  public  schools, 
from  top  to  bottom.  With  this  point  gained,  we  can 
then,  in  each  and  every  case,  give  to  each  and  every 
child  the  privilege  of  pursuing  such  studies  as  experi- 
ence proves  are  of  educational  value  for  that  particular 
pupil.     And  that  is  all  that  any  one  can  ask. 


CHAPTER   XXIII 

CONCERNING    COURSES    OF    STUDY,   DIPLOMAS,   ETC. 

No  Fixed  Course  of  Study  suited  to  all  Children  — The  "Elective" 
Principle  considered —  Natural  Aptitude  of  each  Child  determines 
what  Studies  Each  should  Pursue  —  "  Passionless  Intelligence  " 
and  "  Passionless  Purpose  "  —  Getting  together  of  Teachers, 
Pupils,  and  Parents  —  Standards  of  Scholarship  —  Past  Records 
regarding  Diplomas  —  Diplomas  alike  and  not  alike  Compared 

—  Method  of  Illinois  State  University  cited  —  The  Nonuniform 
"Credit"  Diploma  —  Galesburg,  III,  High  Schools,  and  this 
Plan  —  Testimony  of  Teachers  who  have  tried  this  Method  — 
The  Practice  to  descend  down  through  the  Grades  —  Ranking 
Place  thus  made  for  Industrial  Studies  —  Definitiou  of  Individual 
Character  —  Different  Methods  of  Education  brought  to  this  Test 

—  Type  Writer  as  a  Moral  Factor  —  Home  the  most  Sacred  Spot 
on  Earth  —  The  Right  to  Tax  all  the  People  for  Educational 
Work. 

Shall,  then,  our  public  schools  have  no  courses  of 
study  ?  I  am  asked.  And  I  hasten  to  reply :  No  fixed 
and  uniform  courses,  the  same  for  all  the  children  of  all 
the  people;  no  course  which  is  "that  or  nothing"  for 
every  child — nothing  like  that.  Surely  not.  We  shall 
simply  carry  out,  in  all  departments  of  these  schools, 
the  principle  of  "electives,"  now  so  thoroughly  estab- 
lished in  the  leading  colleges  and  universities  of  this 
country. 

Then,  instead  of  sticking  to  the  idea  that  the  children 
are  made  for  the  schools,  we  shall  stand  on  the  just  and 
rational  basis  that  the  schools  are  made  for  the  children. 

Then,  in  determining  what  studies  each  several  child 

196 


CONCERNING  COURSES  OF  STUDY  197 

shall  pursue,  in  making  up  a  course  of  study  for  each, 
we  shall  be  guided  by  the  natural  aptitude  and  abilities 
of  that  child,  by  the  way  he  is,  and  not  by  the  demands 
of  any  institution,  or  set  of  institutions,  or  of  men  — 
parties  who  have  never  seen  the  child  in  question,  and 
so  know  nothing  of  what  he  really  needs  to  make  the 
most  of  himself. 

Then  the  first  question  in  considering  the  educational 
work  for  any  particular  child  will  always  be :  How  can 
we  make  a  good  citizen  out  of  this  child,  an  individual 
who  will  be  a  help  to  the  state  and  society,  and  not  a 
burden  upon  both ;  how  can  we  bring  each  child  to  the 
best  there  is  in  himself,  and  make  the  most  of  him,  his 
natural  abilities  and  possibilities  being  what  they  are  ? 

Then,  we  shall  not  be  anxious  to  graduate  a  child  in 
any  set  way,  or  to  have  him  tally  as  any  and  all  others 
have  done.  We  shall  not  care  whether  he  is  fitted  for 
college  or  not.  We  shall  only  be  anxious  that  he  is 
fitted  for  the  life  he  is  to  live. 

Then,  we  shall  not  be  satisfied  if  we  succeed  in  getting 
a  few  children  in  a  hundred  to  stay  in  school  until  grad- 
uation day,  but  our  ambition  will  be  so  to  fashion  the 
work  of  these  schools  that  substantially  all  the  children 
who  enter  them  shall  graduate  from  them,  death  being 
the  only  cause  for  failure  to  come  through. 

A  little  while  ago  a  professor  in  a  leading  university 
in  this  country  declared  that  "  the  end  to  be  attained  by 
educating  children  is  to  produce  human  beings  who  are 
willing  to  undertake  the  passionless  pursuit  of  passion- 
less intelligence."  I  do  not  object  to  such  human 
beings.  If  that  is  the  way  they  are,  all  right.  Let  our 
public  schools  do  all  in  their  power  to  help  even  such 
individuals  to  the  attainments  of  their  passionless  pur- 


198        ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

pose.  But  do  not  permit  these,  and  the  likes  of  these, 
to  make  out  courses  of  study  for  all  the  children  of  all 
the  people.  Because  these  latter  are  not  passionless. 
On  the  contrary,  the  great  bulk  of  all  the  children  love 
things,  and  they  love  them  hard.  That  is  the  way  they 
are  —  the  way  God  made  them.  And  in  making  out 
courses  of  study  for  all  these  children,  the  school  to 
come  will  take  these  things  into  account. 

As  I  have  said  before,  this  does  not  mean  that  each 
child  shall  be  left  to  go  his  own  gait,  regardless ;  but  it 
does  mean  that  the  school  superintendent,  the  principal, 
the  child's  teacher,  the  child's  parents,  and  the  child 
himself  —  that  all  these  together  can  find  out,  and  do, 
what  is  best  for  the  child,  can  make  a  course  of  study 
suited  to  his  needs,  from  entering  day  to  graduating 
day.  They  cannot  do  all  this  at  a  single  sitting,  and 
all  on  the  day  the  child  enters  school  for  the  first  time ; 
but  through  the  years,  as  the  work  goes  on,  by  all 
working  together,  they  can  attain  to  a  successful  result, 
in  the  great  majority  of  cases. 

"  But, "  some  one  says,  "  what  about  standards  of 
scholarship  ?  How  can  we  ever  tell  of  the  attainments 
of  any  individual }  If  we  cannot  know  that  he  has 
pursued  a  certain  formulated  course  of  study  in  his 
educational  work,  how  can  we  ever  tell  of  the  rank  he 
ought  to  hold  in  the  educational  world  .-'  Are  degrees 
and  titles  to  count  for  nothing  ? "  and  so  forth,  and  so  on. 

To  which  I  reply :  The  matter  of  educational  rank 
which  is  determined  by  titles  and  diplomas  is  fast 
sinking  into  "  innocuous  desuetude " ;  that  is,  in  the 
great  world  of  the  common  people.  Among  certain 
classes,  these  things  still  are  reckoned  as  of  great  worth ; 
but  not  so  among  the  masses.     For  the  most  part,  the 


CONCERNING  COURSES  OF  STUDY 


199 


one  question  now  asked  of  any  claimant  for  honors  in 
any  department  of  life  or  place  is,  "  What  can  you  do  ?  " 
not,  "  What  credentials  have  you  on  file  ?  "  Of  course, 
credentials  are  of  value,  if  they  can  be  backed  up  by 
deeds  that  tally  with  what  they  stand  for ;  but  in  the 
great  world  of  to-day,  the  man  who  "  holds  down  his 
job,"  as  the  people  say,  does  so  by  deeds,  and  not  by 
diplomas. 

This  was  not  always  so.  In  the  institutions  that  our 
schools  have  grown  out  of,  it  used  to  be  very  different, 
and  it  is  now  in  some  cases.  In  such  times  and  places, 
if  a  man  duly  graduated  and  secured  his  credentials,  he 
was  awarded  "a  living";  and  this  he  was  sure  of,  so 
long  as  life  lasted.  Now,  in  the  great  world  at  large,  it 
is  a  minor  matter  what  credentials  a  man  presents,  so 
far  as  permanency  of  place  is  concerned.  Such  evi- 
dence will,  in  a  measure,  help  to  secure  a  place,  but, 
once  in,  the  incumbent  must  be  able  to  "deliver  the 
goods,"  or  his  tenure  is  brief  —  very  brief. 

Besides  this,  it  does  not  now  mean  what  it  once  meant 
to  say  that  a  man  has  graduated  from  college  —  any  col- 
lege. A  few  years  ago,  all  college  diplomas  were  sub- 
stantially alike.  Now,  no  one  can  tell  what  particular 
thing  or  things  any  holder  of  a  college  diploma  has 
studied.  The  Illinois  State  University  can  give  its 
students  any  one  of  five  hundred  different  diplomas. 
That  is  fine !  It  is  as  it  should  be.  When  our  public 
schools  do  the  same  thing,  they  will  also  be  doing  what 
they  should. 

And  yet,  this  same  university  began  on  the  single- 
kind-of-diploma  idea,  or  very  near  it.  So  long  as  it 
clung  to  this  method,  its  students  were  few  and  far  be- 
tween.    Since  it  has  changed  its  policy,  the  institution 


20O       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

is  full  to  overflowing.  It  will  be  so  with  all  the  depart- 
ments of  our  public  schools  when  they  pursue  a  similar 
policy. 

And  this  is  already  being  done,  to  a  degree,  in  our 
best  public  schools.  None  of  them  has  as  yet  reached 
the  limit  of  possibilities  in  the  premises,  but  many  of 
them  have  made  a  start,  a  good  start,  in  the  right  direc- 
tion. Some  have  failed  in  what  they  hoped  for,  but 
such  failures  have  been  largely  their  own  fault.  They 
have  still  stuck  to  the  course  —  some  fixed  course  — 
idea.  They  have  tried  to  give  their  students  a  choice  of 
several  fixed  and  unvarying  courses,  rather  than  a  truly 
elective  course,  suited  to  individual  needs.  If  a  student 
took  any  "  course,"  he  must  take  all  of  that  course. 
This  is  better  than  one  single  course  for  all,  but  it  is 
not  good  enough.     But  good  enough  will  come  later  on. 

The  plan,  or  method,  that  seems  to  be  the  best  is  to 
determine  a  minimum  of  attainment  that  must  be  reached 
by  a  pupil  before  a  diploma  can  be  secured.  That  is,  a 
pupil  must  receive  a  certain  number  of  credits  for  work 
done,  before  he  or  she  can  graduate.  In  such  scale  of 
credits,  each  particular  study  that  it  is  possible  to  pursue 
in  the  school  is  given  a  certain  credit  value,  and  the  sum 
of  all  these  credits  secured  by  the  pupil  must  reach  a 
certain  amount  before  any  diploma  will  be  issued  to  that 
pupil.  Thus,  suppose  the  total  credits  required  for 
graduation  be  one  hundred.  In  order  to  secure  this 
number,  successful  work  in  Latin  may  count  for  so 
much,  algebra  for  so  much,  bookkeeping  for  so  much, 
manual  training  for  so  much,  etc.  Each  study  success- 
fully pursued  has  a  given  credit  value,  and  when  the 
total  credits  amount  to,  say  one  hundred,  or  some  other 
fixed  number,  then  a  diploma  will  be  issued.     The  face 


CONCERNING  COURSES  OF  STUDY  20I 

of  the  diploma  shows  just  what  studies  the  holder  has 
pursued,  and  how  successfully  he  has  done  the  work  un- 
dertaken. 

If  these  studies  are  such  as  are  required  for  entrance 
to  college,  well  and  good.  Such  diploma  is  a  "  sesame 
open"  to  any  college  of  which  the  school  issuing  the 
diploma  is  accredited.  But  if  a  diploma  is  not  of  this 
sort,  it  is  still  an  honor  to  the  holder ;  for  it  shows  that 
he  or  she  has  stayed  in  the  school  and  has  done  success- 
ful work  therein,  and  that  is  all  that  any  or  all  can,  or 
should,  require. 

By  such  a  plan  each  child  can  get  what  he  needs  out 
of  our  public  schools,  and  no  harm  or  hindrance  will  be 
done  to  any.  Things  being  as  they  are,  for  some  years 
yet  the  pupils  who  have  college-entrance  diplomas  will 
be  counted  of  somewhat  higher  rank,  of  somewhat  better 
blood ;  but  the  plan  will  wear  this  feeling  away,  and  in 
due  time  the  honor  will  be  assigned,  not  so  much  for 
holding  this  or  that  sort  of  diploma,  as  for  what  that 
document  shows  as  to  how  well  the  work  that  it  stands 
for  has  been  done,  whatever  its  kind  may  be. 

Nor  does  this  mean  chaos  in  our  public  schools.  It 
does  not  mean  that  the  pupil  can  study  Latin  a  few 
weeks,  then  drop  it  and  take  up  something  in  its  place, 
and  then  get  credited  for  so  many  weeks'  Latin.  Each 
pupil  will  be  credited  for  work,  in  each  several  study, 
only  when  that  study  has  been  pursued  successfully  for 
the  time  needed  for  its  mastery  to  the  degree  required 
by  the  school.  In  this  way  each  pupil  can  come  to  his 
own,  do  the  work  which  he  and  his  advisers  find  to  be 
best  suited  to  his  needs,  and  so  the  best  results  can  be 
secured  for  all  parties  concerned.  Some  day  our  schools 
will  come  to  this,  or  something  like  it. 


202        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

This  system  has  been  pursued  by  the  Galesburg, 
Illinois,  high  school  for  some  years,  and  with  the  most 
remarkable  success.  Before  adopting  this  plan,  its  grad- 
uates rarely  exceeded  forty  per  year.  At  the  end  of  six 
years'  use  of  the  system,  it  graduated  a  class  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty-four  for  that  year;  and  it  prom- 
ises to  exceed  that  number  each  coming  year,  as  time 
goes  on.  During  this  time,  the  attendance  at  the  high 
school  has  increased  two  hundred  and  forty  per  cent, 
while  the  schools  of  the  city  as  a  whole  have  grown  only 
forty  per  cent  and  the  population  of  the  city  only  twenty 
per  cent.  Each  year  more  "classical"  diplomas  (college 
entrance  diplomas)  have  been  issued  than  ever  before; 
and,  in  addition,  twice  as  many  "  elective "  diplomas 
have  been  issued  to  pupils  who  would  have  dropped 
out  of  school,  or  never  entered  the  high  school  at  all, 
had  it  not  been  for  the  adaptation  of  the  course  of 
study  to  their  individual  needs.  For  the  latest  report 
from  this  school  see  figures  already  quoted  in  Chap- 
ter XV. 

The  teachers  in  this  school  report  that  they  have 
very  little  or  no  trouble  about  pupils  being  fickle  in  their 
choice  of  studies  —  wanting  to  try  first  one  and  then 
another.  In  the  choice  of  studies,  these  pupils  are  by 
no  means  left  to  act  alone,  as  I  have  before  suggested 
they  should  not  be,  but  the  greatest  care  is  taken  to  aid 
them  to  choose  wisely  and  well.  The  aim  is,  especially 
in  peculiar  and  unusual  cases,  to  have  such  choice  of 
studies- made  upon  the  joint  counsel  of  superintendent, 
principal,  teacher,  parents,  and  pupil.  Of  course,  this 
means  work,  but  it  is  work  that  counts,  thkt  saves  the 
boys  and  girls,  keeps  them  in  school  when  they  ought 
to  be  kept  in  school,  and  makes  them  proud  and  happy 


CONCERNING  COURSES  OF  STUDY 


203 


over  their  success  in  doing  well  what  they  are  severally 
capable  of  doing. 

After  several  years'  trial  of  this  plan,  all  parties  con- 
cerned are  enthusiastic  regarding  it,  and  the  record  the 
school  has  made  is  proof  positive  of  the  merits  of  this 
method.  What  has  been  done  in  this  case  is  only  the 
advance  guard  of  what  will  be  done  by  all  of  our  schools 
some  day.  It  is  a  practical  demonstration  of  what  can  be 
done,  in  the  right  direction,  by  proper  methods ;  and 
as  the  first  telephone  meant  millions  like  it  (and  better 
as  time  went  on)  to  follow  it,  so  this  school  means  mil- 
lions like  it  (and  better,  on  similar  lines)  as  the  years 
pass  by.  Indeed,  there  are  already  a  goodly  number  of 
schools  trying  this  plan,  with  the  best  of  results. 

And  it  is  only  a  matter  of  time  till  the  methods  now 
used  in  this  high  school  will  descend  through  the  grades, 
even  to  the  lowest,  in  all  our  public  schools.  The 
principle  is  right,  and  time  will  bring  its  successful 
establishment.  Under  its  benign  workings,  if  a  pupil 
fails  or  is  "  short "  in  some  one  or  more  studies  in  a 
grade,  he  will  not  be  compelled  to  take  all  the  studies 
in  that  grade  over  again  till  he  is  able  to  "pass"  on  the 
one  on  which  he  is  weak. 

I  know  that  sentence  will  make  many  of  my  readers, 
especially  if  they  are  teachers  and  believe  in  "  the  sys- 
tem," wag  their  heads,  and  say,  "  How  are  you  going  to 
do  it  ?  "  And  they  may  justly  add,  "  How,  when  we  have 
such  roomfuls  of  pupils  to  look  after  now,  twice  as 
many  as  we  can  take  care  of  as  they  ought  to  be  taken 
care  of .? "  I  admit  the  pertinency  of  such  questions, 
especially  the  last  one.  Nevertheless,  the  thing  can  be 
done,  and  it  will  be  done,  one  day,  for  it  is  right.  And 
the  right  will  some  day  be  done  everywhere.     To  help 


204        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

bring  that  condition  about  is  all  that  makes  life  worth 
living. 

This  way  of  working  in  our  public  schools  will  not  be 
effected  in  a  day,  or  a  year,  or  in  several  years.  It 
must  be  slowly  evolved.  Public  opinion  must  be 
aroused  in  its  favor,  and  detailed  methods  developed  for 
its  establishment.  But  slowly  and  surely  it  will  come, 
for  only  by  such  means  can  we  educate  all  the  children 
of  all  the  people. 

Of  course  this  means  a  greater  range  of  work  than 
most  of  our  public  schools  now  undertake,  but  all  this 
can  be  provided  for  as  the  needs  become  manifest.  It 
will  undoubtedly  increase  the  expense  of  these  schools 
somewhat,  but  this  need  not  give  us  anxiety.  Only 
prove  that  these  schools  do  the  best  possible  thing  for 
all  the  children  of  all  the  people,  and  these  same  people 
will  see  to  it  that  the  financial  needs  of  these  schools 
are  provided  for,  to  the  uttermost  limit.  There  need 
be  no  worry  on  that  score. 

Now  the  chief  changes  that  will  be  made  in  the  work 
done  in  these  schools,  when  pursued  on  a  basis  similar 
to  the  Galesburg  plan,  will  be  along  industrial  lines,  in 
the  introduction  into  them  of  manual  training  and  do- 
mestic economy,  not  only  in  the  high  school,  but  in  dif- 
ferent forms,  in  all  the  grades,  from  top  to  bottom.  This 
will  come,  not  as  a  fad,  but  as  a  necessity  for  doing  the 
best  we  can  for  a  very  large  percentage  of  the  pupils 
that,  as  God  has  made  our  children  (the  way  they  are), 
can  only  be  reached  successfully  by  such  means. 

And  this  is  not  saying  that  the  larger  number  of  our 
children  are  low  down  in  the  scale  of  life  or  that  they 
are  far  back  in  the  procession.  It  is  only  taking  them 
into  account  as  they  are,  and  acting  accordingly. 


CONCERNING  COURSES  OF  STUDY 


205 


And,  after  all,  what  are  our  schools  for  but  to  estab- 
lish character  in  our  children  ?  What  is  the  purpose  of 
education,  unless  it  be  the  formation  of  character  in  the 
individual  ?  And  when  can  an  individual  be  said  to  be 
possessed  of  a  character  that  is  worthy  of  the  name  ? 

That  individual  has  character  whose  first  desire  in  life, 
when  he  has  anything  to  do,  is  first  to  find  out  the 
eternal  and  unvarying  laws  that  make  for  the  right  doing 
of  the  deed  he  is  called  on  to  perform,  and  then,  having 
found  out  these  laws,  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  whose 
single  purpose  it  is  to  make  his  every  act  involved  in  the 
doing  of  the  required  deed  tally  with  them.  Such  a 
man,  such  a  woman,  and  such  only,  has  character  that 
is  worthy  of  the  name. 

Now  bring  manual  training  and  domestic  economy, 
as  means  of  character  building  (which  is  only  another 
word  for  true  educational  value)  to  this  test  and  see  how 
they  compare  with  other  things  that  have  for  so  long 
been  counted  as  their  superiors.  What  the  candidate 
for  character  has  first  to  learn,  learn  so  well  that  the 
lesson  can  never  be  forgotten  and  surely  will  not  be 
forgotten  in  a  few  years  after  he  leaves  school,  is  the  fact 
that  God's  laws  never  apologize,  and  that  every  man's 
work  shall  be  tried,  of  what  sort  it  is,  and  that  only  such 
work  as  is  done  in  accordance  with  these  laws  will  stand. 
Experience  is  the  only  teacher  which  can  impress  this 
lesson  upon  the  pupil  so  that  it  will  stay.  That  may 
seem  a  hard  saying,  but  we  all  know  it  is  true. 

If  you  give  a  boy  two  boards  that  are  to  be  matched 
together  along  the  edges,  so  that  they  will  make  a  perfect 
joint,  and  set  him  to  work  to  bring  about  such  a  result, 
you  have  put  such  pupil  "  up  against  it "  in  a  way  that 
he  cannot  dodge.     If  he  cuts  too  deep  here,  or  leaves 


2o6        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

a  bulge  there,  a  crack  will  appear  when  he  puts  the  two 
irregular  edges  together,  and  no  mercy  will  be  shown. 
No  matter  how  his  teacher  may  mark  him,  the  falsehood 
of  his  work  stands  out  against  him  in  a  way  that  cannot 
be  hidden.  So  he  learns  the  lesson  of  absolute  compli- 
ance with  God's  laws  in  relation  to  perfectly  matched 
boards.  He  learns  it  by  means  of  something  that  comes 
within  the  range  of  his  comprehension,  that  he  can 
understand,  and  thoroughly  feel  the  force  of. 

Or,  give  a  girl  a  seam  to  sew,  or  a  loaf  to  make  and 
bake,  and  the  same  thing  is  true.  She  learns  by 
practical  experience  that  only  by  compliance  with 
unvarying  law  can  she  obtain  results  that  are  really 
worthy.  Her  work  is  within  the  limit  of  her  ability 
and  her  comprehension,  and  so  is  of  value  to  her.  And 
so  such  work  tends  to  build  up  a  regard  for  truth  in  the 
child;  and,  in  time,  an  honest  belief  in  it,  faith  in  it, 
love  for  it,  in  no  uncertain  way. 

A  principal  of  a  large  high  school  once  told  me  that 
the  typewriter  was  one  of  the  greatest  moral  forces  he 
had  in  his  school.  He  said  he  had  put  boys  and  girls  at 
work  upon  it  who  could  not  and  would  not  spell  well 
when  they  wrote  with  a  pen  or  pencil.  But  when  these 
same  pupils  were  placed  where  their  spelling  sins  stared 
them  in  the  face,  as  they  did  from  a  typewritten  page, 
that  was  too  much  for  them,  and  they  would  mend  their 
ways.     There  is  great  wisdom  in  this  record  of  facts. 

But  now  give  the  everyday  boy  or  girl  a  Latin  sen- 
tence to  translate,  or  a  lesson  in  history  or  geography 
to  memorize  merely,  and  see  how  these  compare,  as 
character  builders, yi?/*  such  children,  with  the  work  just 
noted.  Mind,  I  am  speaking  of  the  "everyday  boy  or 
girl."     I  readily  admit  that  for  those  pupils  who  love  to 


CONCERNING  COURSES  OF  STUDY  207 

translate  Latin  there  is,  in  the  exercise,  that  which  tends 
to  the  formation  of  character  in  them.  If  they  are  born 
to  function  in  that  mental  plane,  well  and  good.  But 
most  boys  and  girls  are  not  so  born ;  and  to  make  them 
go  through  the  motions,  with  these  studies  to  which  they 
do  not  respond,  does  not  tend  to  establish  character  in 
them. 

There  are  millions  of  boys  and  girls  in  this  country 
who  can  and  will  vibrate  and  respond  to  industrial  train- 
ing, in  a  way  that  will  establish  character  in  them  of  no 
uncertain  sort,  boys  and  girls  who  cannot  and  will  not 
vibrate  and  respond  to  bookwork,  to  amount  to  much. 
Such  method  of  training  will  keep  them  in  school  at  a 
time  of  life  when  they  need  to  be  in  school,  and  when 
they  could  not  be  kept,  are  not  kept,  by  a  regular  clas- 
sical-college-fashioned school  course. 

It  should  go  without  saying  that  this  industrial  work 
is  not  suited  to  the  needs  of  all  children,  any  more  than 
classical  work  is  suited  to  the  needs  of  all  children. 
There  are  a  goodly  number  of  children  who  never  ought 
to  take  such  work,  to  any  considerable  extent.  If  they 
do  not  function  in  that  plane,  and  do  function  in  some 
other,  well  and  good.  Let  them  hum  where  they  can, 
where  God  made  them  to  respond,  and  so  shall  it  be 
well  with  them. 

It  would  be  as  much  a  sin  to  try  to  make  all  the 
children  match  boards,  or  bake  bread,  as  it  has  been  to 
try  to  make  them  all  take  a  classical  course  of  study. 
Each  in  his  own  way,  so  long  as  that  way  interferes 
with  no  other,  does  no  harm  or  wrong,  is  the  law ;  and 
the  law  should  have  freedom  to  run  and  be  glorified  for 
each  particular  child. 

And,  after  all,  what  more  excellent  work  can  our 


2o8        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

schools  engage  in  than  fitting  our  boys  and  girls  to  do 
the  things  that  pertain  to  practical  life  —  things  that 
will  be  of  service  to  them  in  their  homes  and  tend  to 
make  these  homes  fit  places  for  first  class  American  citi- 
zens to  live  in  ?  What  better  can  our  public  schools  do 
for  our  children  than  to  fit  them  to  become  worthy  in- 
mates of  divinely  rrianaged  homes  —  homes  that  are 
ordered  in  accordance  with  God's  laws,  and  so  are  bits 
of  heaven  on  earth  ?  Such  results  will  answer  the  prayer 
"  Thy  will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven."  This  is 
work  that  is  worthy  the  backing  of  the  state,  the  earnest 
support  of  every  citizen.  To  produce  such  results,  it  is 
right  to  tax  all  the  people ;  and  if  they  are  forthcoming, 
the  money  to  pay  for  them  will  be  furnished  without 
grumbling.     But  not  otherwise. 


CHAPTER   XXIV 

SOME   OTHER  CHANGES 

Probable  Slow  Growth  of  Proposed  Changes  —  Memory  Work  to  be 
made  Less  Prominent  —  Memory  a  most  Treacherous  Faculty  — 
Little  relied  on  in  the  Business  World  — "  The  Memories  "  — 
Specializing  Abilities  —  Professor  Olmstead — Author's  Experi- 
ence —  Memory  Extortion  —  "  Shall  I  Pass  ?  "  —  Colleges  respon- 
sible for  this  Condition. 

The  establishment  of  this  new  order  of  things  in  our 
schools  must  of  necessity  be  a  matter  of  slow  growth. 
There  is  so  much  to  be  done,  our  present  methods  are 
so  firmly  seated  in  their  places,  and  the  way  before  us  is 
all  so  new  and  untried,  that  progress  can  only  be  made 
by  degrees.  There  will  be  many  mistakes,  plenty  of 
discouragements,  and  numberless  I-told-you-so's.  But, 
in  spite  of  all  these,  we  shall  get  on.  "The  goal  is 
named,  and  it  cannot  be  countermanded." 

Perhaps  one  of  the  first  changes  in  method  that  we 
shall  attempt  will  be  in  the  matter  of  memory  work, 
which  now  so  largely  obtains  in  our  schools.  Now,  for 
the  most  part,  we  try  to  have  our  pupils  memorize  what  is 
set  down  in  books.  The  change  will  be  in  that  we  shall, 
instead,  teach  them  how  to  use  books.  If  we  can  do 
that  successfully,  we  shall  have  put  them  into  the  line  of 
becoming  educated  men  and  women,  so  far  as  book 
knowledge  is  concerned.  And  that  is  enough,  on  that 
side. 

The  fact  is,  the  thoughtful  people  of  the  world  are 
now  coming  to  see  that  memory  is  not  the  regal  trait  in 
p  209 


2IO        ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

one's  intellectual  outfit  that  it  was  once  supposed  to  be. 
On  the  contrary,  we  are  coming  to  understand  that  it  is  the 
most  treacherous  and  tricky,  not  to  say  dangerous,  of  all 
the  mental  activities.  Practically  no  one  to-day,  who  has 
regard  for  things  strictly  as  they  are,  places  any  absolute 
reliance  whatever  upon  memory  as  a  tally  sheet.  The 
banker,  the  merchant,  the  physician,  the  scientist,  the 
mechanic,  the  railroader,  all  men  and  women  who  have 
to  deal  with  what  we  call  practical  things  —  none  of 
these  rely  upon  memory  for  their  data.  They  have 
learned  by  experience,  often  of  the  bitterest  kind,  how 
utterly  unreliable  memory  is.  So  they  have  ceased  to 
count  it  as  anything  more  than  a  sort  of  temporary  asset 
in  their  mental  furnishing. 

This  is  not  saying  that  memory,  in  its  proper  sphere 
and  function,  has  ceased  to  be  of  value ;  —  it  has  its 
place  in  our  mental  furnishing,  and  always  will  have.  — 
But  it  does  mean,  first,  that  memory  training,  as  it  was 
once  exploited,  as  a  means  of  educational  growth  and 
development,  is  not  the  potent  factor  for  that  end  that 
it  was  once  counted  to  be.  It  means  that  merely  teach- 
ing a  child  to  repeat  what  is  set  down  in  a  book  has  in 
it  very  little  that  is  of  real  educative  value.  It  means 
that  there  is  now  very  little  necessity  for  such  work,  and 
that  the  only  reason  for  its  still  remaining  in  our  schools, 
as  in  large  measure  it  does,  is  the  fact  that  it  has  always 
been  there. 

Besides  all  this,  the  most  recent,  thoroughly  scientific, 
and  entirely  reliable  investigations  of  modem  psycholo- 
gists have  revealed  the  fact  that  there  is  no  such  thing 
as  "the  memory,"  as  it  was  formerly  considered.  In- 
stead of  this,  these  men  have  shown  that  in  each  human 
mind  there  are  "the  memories,"  a  whole  lot  of  them, 


SOME  OTHER   CHANGES  21 1 

and  all  so  different !  And  this  discovery  will,  in  due 
time,  change  the  whole  matter  of  memory  training,  as  it 
has  been  exploited  for  centuries. 

We  all  know,  too,  that  this  but  recent  announcement 
of  what  has  always  been  a  fact,  tallies  exactly  with  things 
as  they  are.  Everyone's  personal  experience  proves  that 
this  is  true.  Everybody  has  a  good  memory  for  some 
things,  and  a  very  poor  one  for  some  other  things !  Isn't 
it  so  in  your  case .-'  It  is  in  mine,  and  in  everyone  else's 
that  I  know  anything  about.  I  have  a  splendid  memory, 
along  certain  lines,  as  I  have  already  said.  But  for  some 
other  things  —  I  am  glad  I  don't  have  to  tell  that  side  of 
the  story ! 

Nor  need  I  do  so,  because  what  is  true  of  me  is 
equally  true  of  you,  whoever  you  are,  only  in  a  differ- 
ent way.  You  can  remember  some  things  easily  enough. 
Some  you  simply  cannot  forget,  though  you  may  ever 
so  much  wish  that  you  could.  Other  things  you  cannot 
remember  at  all.  And  what  is  true  of  you  and  me  is 
true  of  all  the  rest  of  our  brothers  and  sisters,  all  over 
the  world  —  is  true  of  all  the  people,  and  of  all  the  chil- 
dren of  all  the  people. 

The  best  memory  for  places  and  for  faces  that  I  ever 
knew  about  was  possessed  by  an  idiot  who  could  not  be 
taught  to  count  ten.  Blind  Tom  had  a  phenomenal 
memory  for  music,  and  would  duplicate  a  piano  per- 
formance, half  an  hour  long,  upon  a  single  hearing. 
Professor  Olmstead  carried  a  whole  table  of  logarithms 
in  his  memory,  and  I  once  had  a  teacher  in  history  who 
could  give,  from  memory,  almost  any  date  to  be  found 
in  a  cyclopedia.  He  tried  to  make  me  do  the  same 
thing,  and  I  ruined  my  health  for  life,  trying  to  do 
what  he  did  and  wanted  me  to  do  also.     He  was  a  good 


212        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

man  and  I  respected  and  loved  him  so  much,  and  had  so 
much  faith  in  him,  that  I  felt  I  was  in  duty  bound  to  do 
as  he  asked  me. 

He  said  I  had  a  good  memory,  because  I  could  repeat 
verses  as  I  did.  (I  used  to  repeat  poetry  to  him,  and  he 
liked  to  have  me  do  so.  He  couldn't  do  that,  but  in 
those  days  he  didn't  count  that  as  a  significant  factor 
in  the  matter  of  what  I  could  remember,  and  what  he 
could  not.)  So  he  set  out  to  make  me  as  proficient  in 
the  matter  of  remembering  dates  as  he  was.  I  broke 
my  health  at  the  task,  and  it  was  all  so  senseless,  so 
utterly  useless  and  entirely  abominable,  as  I  see  it  now. 

I  have  no  ability  at  all  for  that  sort  of  thing.  I  can- 
not vibrate  in  the  least  in  that  plane.  I  can't  even  re- 
member the  birthdays  of  my  brothers  and  sisters ;  and, 
if  my  life  were  at  stake,  I  could  not,  right  here  and  now, 
by  the  aid  of  my  memory  alone,  tell  when  Van  Buren 
was  President,  or  the  year  in  which  Edward  VH  was 
crowned  king.  And  yet  my  teachers  used  to  say  that 
I  had  a  good  memory. 

You  know  just  how  it  is,  too,  do  you  not  ?  Well,  then, 
since  these  things  are  so,  let  us  act  in  accordance  with 
things  as  they  are,  in  the  matter  of  memory,  when  we 
try  to  educate  all  the  children  of  all  the  people. 

For,  why  should  I  bother  my  head  about  my  brothers' 
and  sisters'  birthdays  ?  The  family  register  keeps  all 
that  information,  in  reliable  form.  So,  also,  the  ency- 
clopedia tells  all  about  Mr.  Van  Buren  and  Edward  VII. 
Had  my  history  teacher  taught  me  the  true  use  of  a 
cyclopedia,  and  spent  the  rest  of  the  time  in  a  history 
class  in  interesting  me  in  men  and  deeds,  and  their  rela- 
tion each  to  each,  to  the  past  and  to  what  is  to  come,  my 
history  work  in  school  would  then  have  been  of  some 


SOME  OTHER  CHANGES  213 

value  to  me,  and  would  not  have  ruined  my  health. 
As  it  was,  I  look  back  upon  it  now  as  a  horrible  experi- 
ence that  I  was  once  compelled  to  undergo,  and  my  back 
aches,  as  I  write,  because  of  the  physical  and  nervous 
breakdown  that  came  to  me  as  a  result  of  the  strain  that 
I  put  myself  to  in  trying  to  do  this  and  similar  (to  me) 
useless  work  in  school. 

Yet  I  had  schoolmates  who  did  this  work  and  grew 
fat  on  it.  They  vibrated  to  that  sort  of  thing.  I  did 
not.  Why  could  not  my  teachers,  who  were  good  men 
and  women,  every  one  of  them,  in  other  ways,  why 
couldn't  they  have  seen  that  it  was  folly,  yes,  wicked, 
for  them  to  try  to  make  a  date-holder  out  of  my  head, 
or  to  make  me  a  master  of  languages .-'  I  never  had,  or 
showed,  the  least  ability  in  either  of  these  directions; 
and  what  once  was,  still  is.  Yet  it  was  held  that  it 
would  cultivate  my  memory  to  do  such  work,  that  it 
would  discipline  my  mind  and  educate  me,  and  so  I 
undertook  it.  It  was  a  failure,  from  start  to  finish. 
Worse  than  that,  the  work  I  tried  to  do  was  a  sin 
against  my  being,  and  I  shall  suffer  for  that  sin  just  as 
long  as  I  live.  My  teachers  did  not  mean  it  so,  and  I 
have  heard  them  all  tell  how  sin  could  be  forgiven. 
I  wish  they  could  tell  me  how  to  get  rid  of  the  pain  and 
weakness  I  now  suffer  from,  and  which  the  work  they 
gave  me  was  the  cause  of. 

I  don't  like  to  say  these  things,  and  my  only  reason 
for  doing  so  is  the  hope  that  this  true  record  may  keep 
some  teacher  or  teachers,  or  parents,  or  pupils,  from 
doing  as  I  did  in  these  respects. 

And  so,  in  the  order  of  things,  the  terrible  burdens  of 
memory  work  that  we  now  put  upon  the  pupils  of  our 
public  schools  will  one  day  be  relegated  to  the  back- 


214       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

ground,  where  they  really  belong ;  and  in  their  stead 
will  come  teaching  how  to  use  books,  and  how  to  do 
things.  Of  course,  if,  now  and  then,  a  boy  or  girl 
delights  in  repeating  what  is  set  down  in  a  book,  in 
memorizing  dates,  and  such  like  work,  such  should  be 
permitted  to  do  all  this.  But  the  larger  part  of  our 
children  will  not  go  that  way.  Neither  will  they  be 
dropped  out  of  school,  if  they  cannot,  or  do  not,  go  that 
way. 

Will  you  who  read  these  lines,  be  you  teacher,  parent, 
or  pupil,  think  of  how  these  things  are  with  you ;  and 
then  will  you  try  to  do  the  best  you  can  for  your  pupils, 
your  children,  or  yourself,  on  these  counts  ?  Be  honest 
with  yourselves  right  here.     That's  all  I  ask. 

Next,  this  change  that  will  come  in  our  schools  along 
the  line  of  memory  work  will  naturally  lead  to  the 
elimination  of  that  black  beast  of  every  pupil's  school 
life,  examinations,  as  they  for  the  most  part  now  are, 
and  as  they  have  been  conducted,  time  out  of  mind. 

For  here,  also,  we  are  still  held  in  bondage  by  what 
has  come  to  us  from  the  days  when  there  were  no  such 
means  for  doing  things  as  we  now  have.  Examina- 
tions, as  they  are  now  almost  universally  conducted  in 
our  schools,  are  only  the  culminating  climax  of  the 
memory  training  that  is  done  in  these  schools.  It  is  a 
memory  extortion,  pure  and  simple.  It  is  supposed  to 
be  the  final  twist  which  will  forever  fix  in  the  memory, 
as  a  whole,  the  items  that  have  been  put  into  it  one  at 
a  time.  Its  mission  is  supposed  to  be  that  of  a  sort  of 
solidifier,  a  forcing  into  one  compact  and  nondestruc- 
tible  lump  what  has  previously  been  a  floating  mass 
of  stuff.  With  this  for  a  theory,  the  memory  examina- 
tion screws  are  put  on ;  and  oh,  the  agony  which  that 


SOME  OTHER  CHANGES  215 

pressure  inflicts  upon  those  who  fall  under  its  relentless 
squeezing  —  that  is,  practically,  upon  all  the  pupils  of 
the  school !  Racks  and  thumbscrews  of  the  olden 
time  were  never  more  cruel  and  tormenting.  "  Shall 
I  pass  ? "  "  Did  you  pass  ? "  "  I  am  afraid  I  shall  not 
pass."  "  I  can't  sleep  a  wink  till  I  know  whether  I 
have  passed  or  not ! "  How  many  times  have  you 
heard  these  words  ?  How  many  times  have  you  said 
them  yourself,  and  experienced  the  anguish  they  ex- 
press .''  And  yet  they  are  really  needless,  and  wholly 
uncalled-for  words,  if  only  these  things  are  done  as  they 
ought  to  be. 

Why  should  we  longer  put  our  children  to  these  ter- 
rible strains,  as  we  now  do .-'  I  ask  you  why  ?  Will  you 
stop  and  try  to  think  out  a  good  reason  ?  I  have  tried 
to  think  out  a  good  reason,  and  I  am  unable  to  do  so. 
But  here  is  all  the  excuse  I  can  find  for  this  fearful 
abuse  of  what  was  once  a  good  thing : 

The  ultimate  and  only  reason  for  this  sort  of  thing 
is  the  demand  of  the  colleges  that  we  prepare  pupils  to 
undergo  the  entrance  examinations  which  they  set  up 
for  admission  to  their  institutions.  That  is  the  whole 
story  in  a  nutshell,  as  every  one  who  is  familiar  with 
the  facts  will  readily  admit.  That  is  the  final  fact,  and 
it  is  a  fact  that  requires  looking  into.  That  shall  be 
done  in  the  following  chapter. 


CHAPTER   XXV 

EXAMINATIONS 

Fair  Tests  of  Ability  Just  and  Right  —  Laissez  Faire  Methods 
unworthy  —  Present  Practices  considered  —  How  these  became 
established  —  Some  Details  of  Such  Work  —  The  Burden  Un- 
bearable—  A  Fair  Method  proposed  —  Why  not?  —  Personal 
Test  for  Each  Reader — The  Essence  of  any  Mental  Examination 
Test  —  Practices  in  Professions  and  Callings  outside  the  School- 
room—  Present  Methods  prove  Nothing  of  Literary  Ability  or 
Mental  Power — Autocyclopedias  —  China  now  and  then  —  The 
Ultimatum. 

In  taking  up  the  subject  to  be  considered  in  this  chap- 
ter, let  me  say  at  the  outset  that  no  true,  honest  person 
will  ever  shrink  from  being  brought  to  a  fair  test  as  to 
his  ability  to  do  well  any  work  that  he  may  wish  to  un- 
dertake. More  than  that  (or  rather,  previous  to  that),  it 
is  only  just,  fair,  and  right  that  every  person  who  seeks 
for  place  or  position,  or  for  opportunity  to  do  work  of 
any  kind,  should  be  submitted  to  a  fair  test  of  his  ability 
to  "fill  the  bill,"  if  I  may  say  it  that  way. 

I  am  no  advocate  for  laissez  faire  methods,  or  for 
slipshod,  happy-go-lucky  ways  of  doing  things,  here  or 
anywhere.  I  make  no  plea  that  the  slouch,  the  ineffi- 
cient, and  the  ne'er-do-weels  should  not  be  tested  as  to 
their  real  worth.  But  I  do  plead  for  the  millions  of  our 
children  who  now  live  in  agony  all  the  school  years 
of  their  lives  because  of  this  dragon  of  antiquated  ex- 
amination methods  which  are  now  so  universally  ramp- 
ant in  our  schools.     I  know  that,  in  some  of  our  best 

216 


EXAMINATIONS  217 

schools,  this  demon  has  been  exorcised.  But  the  list  of 
such  schools  is  small.     We  all  know  that  fact. 

I  am  sure  it  will  help  to  make  clear  what  I  wish  to  say, 
to  review,  somewhat  in  detail,  the  examination  methods 
of  the  past,  to  see  how  they  came  into  being,  and  what 
they  have  now  become. 

Like  most  other  present  evils,  the  bad  things  about 
modern  school  examinations  have  all  come  out  of  that 
which  was  once  good  in  its  way,  in  its  own  day  and 
place.  Memory  examination  tests  were  once  the  only 
way  of  proving  the  status  of  pupils  who  wished  to  pur- 
sue further  scholarly  work.  That  was  wholly  the  case 
in  the  days  when  there  were  no  books,  or  very  few  to 
speak  of.  Among  all  ancient  peoples,  and  in  all  such 
times,  this  method  was  the  only  one  that  could  be  used, 
and  that  was  where  the  method  was  developed,  and  how 
it  came  into  use.  It  was  once  right  and  just  and  wise  — 
the  best  that  could  be  done,  then  and  there. 

Besides  this,  these  tests  were  in  harmony  with  the 
ways  in  which  pupils  in  those  times  received  all  their 
instruction.  They  were  taught  by  word  of  mouth,  and 
by  word  of  mouth  they  reproduced  what  they  had  been 
taught. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  doubtful  if  Socrates  ever 
wrote  a  line,  and  the  same  can  truthfully  be  said  of 
Jesus,  There  is  not,  in  all  the  world,  to-day,  a  single 
stroke  of  pen,  pencil,  or  stylus  that  either  of  these  made 
with  his  own  hand.  Socrates  talked  to  his  pupils,  and 
Jesus  opened  his  mouth  and  taught  the  people,  saying. 
There  were  few  books  then — surely  none  for  all  of  the 
children  of  all  the  people.  These,  and  other  teachers 
of  those  times,  taught  without  books,  and  only  what 
they  themselves  knew  at  first  hand.     Furthermore,  the 


2l8       ALL  THE  CHILDREN.  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

teachers  of  those  days  did  not  teach  so  very  much  — 
very  little,  surely,  compared  with  what  pupils  are  taught 
to-day. 

Then,  in  those  early  times,  each  teacher  would  teach 
the  pupil  only  what  he  himself  (the  teacher)  knew,  and 
in  some  cases  that  was  not  very  much.  Indeed,  if  such 
process  were  in  vogue  now,  the  sufferings  of  our  children 
would  be  greatly  mitigated  !  But,  see  !  No  teacher  is 
now  confined  in  his  teaching  to  what  he  himself  knows ! 
He  now  has  books  without  number,  as  his  aiders  and 
abettors,  and  he  can  assign  pages  and  pages  of  them  for 
pupils  to  memorize  while  he  himself  goes  home,  and 
perhaps  to  bed,  and  to  sleep. 

And  then,  when  recitation  hour  comes,  the  teacher 
can  sit  down  with  the  open  book  before  him,  and,  with 
finger  on  the  text,  can  keep  tab  on  the  pupil !  Will  you 
stop  and  think  how  such  accrued  advantage  on  one  side 
of  what  was  once  a  fair  game  has  resulted  to  the  dis- 
advantage of  the  other  side  ?  The  situation  is  the  most 
monstrous,  the  most  unjust  and  unfair  method  of  work 
that  exists,  anywhere  in  the  world  to-day. 

This  is  no  fable  that  I  am  rehearsing.  I  am  not  fight- 
ing a  man  of  straw  in  what  I  am  saying  here.  Every 
child,  every  parent,  every  teacher  in  this  country  knows 
the  truth.  The  marvel  is  that  we  are  all  as  patient  as 
we  are  in  the  presence  of  this  persistent  evil,  this  relic 
of  ancient  days  that  still  abides  with  us. 

Take  a  case  in  point.  Suppose  a  boy  in  the  old  days 
(or  new,  for  that  matter)  was  learning  a  language  by 
word-of-mouth  method,  getting  his  vocabulary  from  his 
teacher,  and  having  the  forms  of  words  and  their  arrange- 
ment and  relations  all  explained  and  illustrated,  vocally, 
as  the  study  progressed.     Now,  nothing  could  be  fairer. 


EXAMINATIONS  219 

under  such  circumstances,  if  a  test  of  the  pupil's  pro- 
ficiency was  to  be  made,  than  to  subject  him  to  a 
memory  examination,  to  ask  him  to  repeat  words  that 
he  had  learned,  etc.  —  in  a  word,  to  see  if  he  could  talk 
as  he  had  been  taught  to  talk,  as  it  would  be  fair  to 
presume  he  should  be  able  to  talk,  his  instruction  being 
what  it  had  been.  No  one  could  object  to  such  a  test. 
It  would  be  fair  to  all  parties  concerned,  and  it  would 
prove  what  one  would  wish  to  find  out. 

But  now,  compare  this  with  the  modern  examinations 
of  the  pupils  in  our  schools,  and  of  candidates  for  teach- 
ing in  our  schools,  since  the  advent  of  books. 

Take  the  same  study  I  have  considered  above,  the 
examination  in  some  language  which  the  pupil  has 
been  trying  to  learn  with  books  as  the  chief  means, 
which  is  the  method  still  used  in  nearly  all  language 
study  in  our  public  schools.  Just  see  the  difference  in 
the  two  cases,  and  how  fearfully  to  the  disadvantage 
of  the  pupil  the  present  way  is.  By  this  method,  the 
pupil  gets  his  knowledge  of  words  by  the  eye,  from  a 
dictionary  of  the  language  he  is  studying ;  and  at  least 
fifty  of  these  words  are  given  him  in  this  way  where 
one  would  be  given  if  the  teacher  alone  were  the  source 
of  word  supply.  The  dictionary  is  always  at  hand, 
when  the  pupil  is  studying  his  lesson,  and  so  can  be  re- 
ferred to  at  will.  Besides  this,  the  grammar  is  always 
accessible,  to  explain  new  and  unusual  forms  and  phrases 
that  appear  in  the  text.  That  is,  the  lexicon  and  the  gram- 
mar are  the  legitimate  tools  which  the  pupil  can  use  to 
advantage  in  his  work.  He  uses  them,  learns  to  depend 
on  them,  as  he  has  a  right  to  do,  and  in  this  way  does 
more  or  less  language  work. 

But  when  examination  day  comes,  every  one  of  these 


220       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

rightful  and  useful  helps  in  his  work  is  taken  away  from, 
him,  and  at  arm's  length  of  memory  alone  he  is  asked  to 
translate,  give  forms  of  words,  and  account  for  construc- 
tions, without  any  assistance  whatever  from  the  tools  that 
he  ordinarily  has  been  permitted  to  use. 

But,  it  is  contended,  this  is  seldom  on  new  work.  An 
examination  is  usually  upon  subject  matter  which  the 
pupil  has  had.  Granted.  But  it  is  getting  to  be  about 
time  for  us  to  learn  that  the  mind  of  a  pupil  is  not  like 
a  private  compartment  in  a  safety  deposit  bank  vault, 
which  can  be  relied  upon  to  hold  securely  whatever  is 
once  put  into  it.  It  is  far  more  like  a  sponge  which 
lies  in  the  open  air.  It  may  be  sopped  till  it  drips ;  but 
the  wind  passes  over  it,  and  what  was  in  it  is  gone,  till 
it  is  soon  as  dry  as  a  dead  leaf  lying  on  a  parched  rock. 
Perhaps  it  is  more  like  a  sieve  which  will  only  hold 
stuff  put  into  it  that  is  larger  than  its  meshes. 

In  any  event,  the  fact  is  thoroughly  patent  to  any 
impartial  observer  that  this  way  of  testing  a  pupil's 
ability  is  wholly  unfair  and  grossly  stupid,  and  that  it 
puts  into  the  hands  of  a  careless,  or  a  cold-blooded 
teacher  a  means  of  torture  which  the  Inquisition  never 
surpassed. 

Just  see  what  a  boy  or  girl  is  supposed  to  have  "  on 
tap,"  in  memory,  ready  to  be  drawn  on  at  an  instant's 
notice,  in  order  that  he  or  she  may  pass  a  college 
entrance  examination.  Take  it  in  mathematics  alone, 
and  in  the  single  study  of  geometry.  It  is  perfectly 
safe  to  say  that  such  pupil  is  liable  to  be  called  on  to 
give,  or  to  work  with,  any  one,  or  half  dozen,  out  of  a 
hundred  theorems.  It  is  equally  safe  to  say  that  not 
more  than  one  such  pupil  in  a  hundred  ever  has  any- 
thing more  than  a  memory  knowledge  of  geometry,  at 


EXAMINATIONS  221 

the  age  of  college  entrance.  The  study  is  one  that 
very  few  people  vibrate  to  before  they  are  thirty  years 
of  age,  and  not  so  very  many  even  then. 

I  once  asked,  in  an  audience  of  five  hundred  high 
school  teachers  and  city  superintendents,  how  many 
were  able  to  go  to  the  board  and  divide  a  line  in 
extreme  and  mean  ratio ;  and  there  were  less  than  a 
score  who  were  able  to  do  it,  right  then  and  there ! 
Upon  bringing  these  to  the  test,  I  found  that  they  were 
all  teachers  of  geometry,  who  were  fresh  from  the  work  ! 

And  yet,  every  boy  and  girl  who  has  to  be  brought  to 
the  test  of  a  college  entrance  examination  in  geometry 
must  be  prepared,  not  only  to  divide  a  line  in  extreme 
and  mean  ratio,  but  to  do  more  than  a  hundred  equally 
difficult  things,  few  of  which  those  learned  men  and 
women  who  sat  before  me  that  morning  could  do,  if 
they  were  called  on  as  I  called  on  them. 

And  they  were  not  incompetent  men  and  women, 
these  teachers  who  could  not  divide  a  line  as  asked,  on 
the  drop  of  the  hat.  On  the  contrary,  they  were  among 
the  ablest  teachers  in  this  or  any  other  country,  and 
there  was  not  one  amongst  them  all  who  could  not 
divide  a  line  as  required,  if  they  could  have  had  their 
books  a 

What  a  flood  of  light  these  last  seven  words  throw 
upon  the  situation. 

And  why  should  not  these  teachers  be  permitted  to 
have  their  books  to  use  in  dividing  a  line,  or  in  doing  a 
thousand  and  one  other  things  which  they  learned  how 
to  do  with  the  aid  of  books,  and  which  they  can  do 
easily  enough  if  they  are  permitted  to  use  those  same 
books  now,  as  they  once  used  them  }  And  why  should 
these  pupils  of  ours,  month  after  month,  and  year  after 


222        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

year,  be  compelled  to  pass  examinations  in  books,  with- 
out books  ?  Can  any  one  tell  ?  The  only  reasons  are 
that  it  has  always  been  so ;  that  as  the  fathers  did,  so  do 
we ;  and  that  the  colleges  demand  that  these  things 
continue  to  be  done  in  this  way.  But  it  is  an  outrage, 
a  shame  and  a  disgrace,  a  sin  of  the  most  deadly  sort 
against  our  pupils  that  these  methods  be  longer  re- 
tained. 

How  much  Latin  or  Greek  can  you  read  without  lexi- 
con or  grammar }  Be  honest  now !  How  many  people 
do  you  know  who  can  read  these  languages  to  amount 
to  much  without  these  helps .''  How  many  teachers  of 
these  languages  do  you  know  who  do  not  have  to  pre- 
pare for  the  work  of  each  such  lesson  in  advance,  by  the 
use  of  lexicon  or  grammar  ?  More  than  that,  how  many 
teachers  do  you  know  who,  when  they  set  themselves  to 
mark  up  a  set  of  examination  papers,  do  not  fortify 
themselves  with  lexicon  and  grammar,  to  prove  whether 
the  work  is  correct  .-•  I  have  seen  this  done  scores  of 
times.  So  have  you.  I  have  done  the  thing  myself. 
So  have  you.  And  we  did  no  wrong  in  using  these 
books,  either.  Our  only  wrong  was  in  not  permitting 
our  pupils  to  do  as  we  did. 

Shall  we,  then,  abolish  college  entrance  examinations 
and  corresponding  work  in  our  public  schools  ?  By  no 
means.  All  that  needs  to  be  done  is  simply  to  abolish 
the  antiquated  and  wholly  useless  method  that  is  now  in 
vogue,  and,  in  its  place,  use  a  method  that  is  rational, 
and  in  accordance  with  modern  means  and  appliances. 
That  is,  since  we  live  in  an  age  of  books,  when  every- 
body has  them  and  can  have  them  continually,  when 
there  is  no  need  whatever  of  burdening  the  memory 
with  data  as  there  used  to  be  —  since  all  these  things  are 


EXAMINATIONS  223 

SO,  let  us  mend  our  examination  ways  and  test  our  pupils 
as  to  how  well  they  can  use  books,  rather  than  how  per- 
fectly (or  imperfectly)  they  can  repeat  what  is  in  them. 
That  will  remedy  the  whole  difficulty,  and  will  remove 
all  the  trouble  on  that  score,  and  will  lift  a  load  from  the 
backs  of  our  pupils  in  comparison  of  which  mountains 
are  but  pebbles. 

And  what  a  change  this  will  make  in  the  bookwork 
of  our  schoolrooms.  Think  of  geography,  and  history, 
and  literature,  when  taught  by  this  method.  Who  would 
not  gladly  undertake  these  studies,  on  such  a  basis  as  is 
here  proposed .-'  What  boy  or  girl  did  we  ever  know 
who  did  not  respond  to  the  reading  of  history,  or  of 
geography,  full  of  live  data  —  stories  of  men,  things, 
and  places  that  had  life  in  them,  and  that  it  was  a 
delight  to  know  about.?  See  how  we  have  all  learned 
about  the  Philippines,  and  Russia,  and  Japan,  in  the  last 
few  years,  from  what  we  have  read  out  of  the  news- 
papers and  magazines !  We  do  not  remember  it  all. 
Surely  not.  We  could  not  pass  a  written  examination 
upon  it.  But  we  remember  all  that  is  needful  to  be 
remembered,  and  what  we  forget  we  can  "look  up,"  and 
that  is  enough. 

Under  this  new  order  of  things,  we  will  educate  all 
our  pupils  by  methods  that  they  will  use  when  they  come 
into  the  practical  affairs  of  life.  Then,  if  we  wish  to 
test  a  boy's  proficiency  in  history,  we  will  give  him  an 
historical  subject  to  investigate,  put  the  proper  books 
into  his  hands,  and  see  what  comes  of  it.  The  same 
in  Latin,  or  Greek,  or  philosophy,  or  mathematics. 
This  is  what  the  boy  will  come  to  in  the  work  of  life, 
and  this  work  that  we  give  him  will  be  excellent  practice 
for  him  while  he  is  learning  how  to  do  things  j  and  all 


224       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

the  children  of  all  the  people  can  learn  to  do  things  this 
way,  each  after  his  own  plan. 

Is  a  lawyer  asked  to  pass  upon  a  case  ?  His  ability 
to  do  this  is  by  no  means  confined  to  his  memory.  He 
has  his  own  library,  and  that  of  his  fellows  in  his  pro- 
fession, to  refer  to.  The  same  is  true  of  the  physician, 
the  preacher,  the  teacher,  and  of  all  book-professional 
men  and  women.  It  is  equally  true  of  the  craftsman, 
and  of  all  workers  in  whose  callings  the  records  to  be 
found  in  books  are  of  use.  Likewise  in  all  the  business 
world,  the  use  of  books,  their  handling,  consulting,  and 
studying  —  these  are  all  factors  of  chief  importance. 
The  banker  relies  on  his  books  and  not  on  his  memory 
—  that  is,  if  he  is  a  good  banker.  So  does  the  merchant, 
and  the  manufacturer,  and  even  the  farmer  is  coming  to 
work  in  the  same  way. 

So,  what  our  children  need,  so  far  as  books  are  con- 
cerned, is  to  be  taught  how  to  use  them.  This  is 
especially  true  of  all  and  everything  on  the  side  of  lit- 
erature, and  of  literary  culture  and  training.  I  saw  a 
class  in  literature,  so  called,  the  other  day,  where  the 
work  consisted  of  the  pupils'  standing  and  telling, 
from  memory,  the  names  of  authors,  when  they  were 
born,  where  they  were  born,  how  long  they  lived,  what 
books  they  wrote,  when  they  died,  where  they  died,  and 
where  they  were  buried.  At  the  end  of  each  month 
they  are  required  to  pass  a  written  examination  on  what 
they  have  learned !  I  have  before  me,  as  I  write,  a  set 
of  college  entrance  examinations  for  the  year  19 lO,  in 
which  this  sort  of  work  in  literature  is  called  for,  and 
required!  Indeed,  a  teacher  who  taught  literature  in 
the  public  schools  by  this  method  told  me  that  she  was 
compelled  to  do  as  she  did  in  order  to  fit  her  pupils  to 


EXAMINATIONS  225 

pass  college  entrance  examinations.  She  said  the  col- 
leges with  which  their  school  was  affiliated  all  required 
such  work.     And  there  you  are  again  ! 

What  can,  or  does,  such  study  of  literature  amount  to.? 
Absolutely  nothing.  Yes,  often  worse  than  nothing. 
For  the  boredom  of  it,  and  the  agony  that  it  inflicts 
upon  the  pupil,  create  a  hatred  of  literature  that  is  often 
never  overcome.  Such  a  method  is  dead,  and  should 
be  buried.  It  is  a  stench  in  the  nostrils  of  any  true 
lover  of  literature,  or  of  any  live  teacher  of  the  subject. 

Would  I  know  the  literary  standing  of  an  individual  ? 
Let  him  bring  to  me  any  book  he  has  read,  I  care  not 
whether  I  have  ever  seen  or  heard  of  the  book  or  of  its 
author  before,  and  read  to  me  what  he  counts  of  most 
worth  in  the  volume,  and  I  can  very  soon  judge  of  his 
literary  accomplishments  and  standing.  So  can  you. 
So  can  any  one  who  is  fair-minded,  and  open  to  evi- 
dence that  is  worth  while.  There  need  be  no  trouble 
in  this  sort  of  examination  work.  It  can  be  well  and 
faithfully  done,  with  full  justice  to  all  parties  concerned. 

And  the  best  of  it  is  that  such  a  method  will  demon- 
strate what  it  is  set  to  prove.  It  will  also  free  our 
pupils  from  a  slavery  that  has  long  held  them  in  bond- 
age. Furthermore,  it  will  entirely  remove  all  tempta- 
tion to  cheat  in  examination,  a  practice  that  has  done 
more  to  undermine  the  morals  of  students,  in  recent 
years,  than  any  other  one  source  of  evil  that  can  be 
named  or  imagined.  It  will  make  study  a  delight,  and 
the  proof  of  one's  attainments  a  test  to  be  desired 
rather  than  a  trial  to  be  shunned.  The  time  it  will  save 
our  students  and  teachers  will  make  room  for  the  work 
that  our  schools  must  do,  for  manual  training  and 
domestic  economy,  for  work  in  many  practical  things 
Q 


226        ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

which  the  schools  need,  and  which  we  now  "  have  no 
time  for  " ;  it  will  usher  in  a  new  day  in  our  school 
world,  one  that  will  bring  joy  to  the  hearts  of  teachers, 
pupils,  and  parents,  and  positive  profit  to  them  all. 

Such  methods  of  study  and  of  examinations  as  I  have 
outlined  will  accommodate  themselves  to  the  way  we 
are,  every  one  of  us,  and  to  the  way  everybody  else  is, 
and  everything  else  is.  And  so  we  will  be  happy  and 
get  on.  As  heaven  is  to  the  other  place,  so  will  the  con- 
ditions of  our  pupils  then  be  to  the  fix  they  are  now  in. 

Time  was  when  the  word  "  scholar  "  meant  a  walking 
dictionary  and  an  autocyclopedia,  and  all  the  methods 
and  paraphernalia  of  the  schools  were  brought  into  play 
to  effect  such  a  result.  As  language  and  the  volume 
of  things  known  were  in  those  days,  all  these  things 
might  be  packed  into  one  head  and  the  man  be  none 
the  worse  for  it.  But  as  things  are  now,  an  effort  to 
produce  such  a  result  is  fatal  to  the  victims.  There  are 
too  many  words  now,  and  knowledge  has  too  vast  a 
reach,  to  be  compressed  any  longer  into  any  one  single 
head.  Besides,  what's  the  use .''  Dictionaries  are  so 
cheap.  The  millions  can  have  cyclopedias  now ;  and 
things  are  so  much  easier  to  get  at,  so  much  more  reli- 
able withal,  so  much  more  liable  to  keep  in  any  climate, 
when  preserved  for  use  in  this  way. 

Even  China  has  largely  abandoned  her  memory-test 
examinations  for  political  preferment,  and  the  whole 
system  has  been  abolished  by  imperial  edict  in  Japan. 
These  nations  have  used  these  methods  for  centuries  in 
their  educational  work,  but  they  have  now  come  to  see 
that,  in  the  Hght  of  modern  means  and  methods,  they 
are  of  little  or  no  account.  So  they  have  marked  them 
off  their  educational  maps.     Wise  people,  they. 


EXAMINATIONS  227 

The  simple  truth  is,  that  these  memory-test  examina- 
tion methods  must  be  abolished  in  this  country  also  — 
dropped,  all  along  the  line.  They  are  now  held  in  place 
in  our  public  schools  almost  solely  because  the  colleges 
require  that  they  be  kept  there,  and  that  is  not  a  good 
and  sufficient  reason  for  their  being  longer  endured. 

All  that  the  colleges  have  right  to  ask  of  a  candi- 
date for  admission  to  their  doors  is  that  he  prove  that 
he  is  fitted  and  able  to  do  the  work  that  they  require. 
This  can  be  learned  by  an  examination  of  how  well  the 
candidate  can  use  books,  and  do  things,  far  better  than 
by  how  well  he  can  merely  repeat  what  is  in  books. 
And  it  will  be  that  way,  some  day. 


CHAPTER   XXVI 

SHOOTING  TO   HIT 

Purposeful  vs.  Purposeless  Study  —  A  "Pullman"  Story  —  The 
Tragedy  of  it  all  —  Why  the  Aimless  Methods  are  bad  in  a  De- 
mocracy—  The  "All  Around"  Man  Valueless  in  Modern  Life  — 
"  One  Bird  at  a  Shot "  —  Lowell's  Definition  of  a  University. 

Another  change  that  will  come  with  this  new  order 
of  things  in  our  schools  will  be  the  practice,  on  the  part 
of  our  pupils,  of  studying  for  some  definite  purpose  in 
life,  rather  than  merely  "  to  get  an  education  "  and  then 
"wait  for  something  to  turn  up."  There  is  no  one  item 
in  the  educational  work  of  the  young  people  of  to-day 
which  leads  to  more  disastrous  results  than  the  aimless 
methods  of  study  which  are  now  so  generally  practiced. 
The  change  that  is  needed  will  perhaps  affect  more 
largely  the  work  done  in  our  colleges  and  universities 
than  in  our  public  schools,  but  it  will  have  to  be  largely 
introduced,  even  in  the  more  elementary  work  of  all  our 
children. 

I  have  said  that  such  aimless  study,  this  idea  of 
merely  getting  a  good  education,  results  badly;  and  I 
wish  to  emphasize  that  statement.  That  it  is  true,  no 
one  who  is  familiar  with  the  facts  will  deny.  That  any- 
thing can  be  done  about  it,  most  people  either  doubt  or 
refuse  to  consider. 

I  have  no  word  to  say  against  scholastic  work  in  our 
public  schools,  or  in  our  colleges  and  universities,  pro- 
vided such  work  be  done  with  some  definite  end  in  view. 

228 


SHOOTING  TO  HIT  229 

But  to  pursue  any  course  of  study  just  for  the  sake  of 
studying  something,  just  to  become  "cultured,"  just  to 
get  a  good  education  —  this  is  as  dangerous  as  it  is 
foolish,  unless  one  has  money  enough  so  that  he  can, 
for  the  most  part,  live  without  work.  You  may  not  have 
thought  it  that  way,  but  if  you  will  stop  to  consider 
the  facts  in  the  case,  you  will  find  them  as  I  have  just 
stated. 

I  cannot  illustrate  the  situation  better  than  by  giving 
a  case  that  came  under  my  observation  a  few  months 
ago.  A  prominent  merchant  in  this  country  told  me 
the  story  as  we  were  riding  together  in  a  Pullman, 
and  I  will  repeat  it  as  he  gave  it  to  me.  We  had  been 
talking  about  this  matter  of  aimless  work  in  school,  and 
he  iinally  said  :  — 

"  You  are  right,  Mr.  Smith.  It  is  a  sin  before  God 
for  a  boy  to  go  through  college  without  a  definite  pur- 
pose in  life,  a  positive  something  which  he  aims  to  hit — 
either  for  him  to  do  this  for  himself,  or  for  his  parents 
to  permit  him  to  do  so.  And  I'll  tell  you  how  I  know 
what  I  am  talking  about."     He  then  went  on,  as  follows : 

"  I  have  two  boys.  The  older  one  is  now  thirty-seven. 
He  is  married,  has  a  good  wife  and  four  children  that 
will  average  well  with  children  as  they  go,  which  is  as 
moderate  a  way  of  saying  it  as  ought  to  be  expected 
from  a  grandfather !  He  is  a  recognized  factor  in  our 
city  affairs,  has  his  place  in  our  church  ;  and,  not  to 
boast,  is  a  son  that  a  father  may  well  rejoice  in,  not  to 
say  be  a  bit  proud  of.  He  is  really  the  head  of  our 
business  house,  though  I  am  nominally  to  the  fore.  I 
have  just  been  East  buying  goods,  for  I  have  some  good 
stuff  in  me  yet,  if  I  am  past  seventy ;  but  if  anything 
should  happen  to  me,  my  son  could  carry  on  the  busi- 


230       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

ness  with  perfect  success.  He  knows  the  details  of  our 
trade  from  top  to  bottom,  and  is  thoroughly  master  of 
the  situation.  We  have  no  tremendous  concern,"  he 
added  modestly;  "but  we  manage  to  turn  over  three  or 
four  million  dollars  a  year,  take  it  one  year  with  another. 
I  began  the  business  in  a  small  way  as  a  young  man, 
and  it  has  grown  to  what  it  now  is. 

"  Now  this  older  boy  of  mine  never  took  to  books 
much.  But  he  was  our  firstborn,  and  his  mother  was 
very  anxious  that  he  should  have  a  good  education, 
one  very  much  better  than  mine,  for  I  never  had  an 
opportunity  to  go  to  school  very  much  when  I  was 
young.  So  we  kept  the  boy  in  school,  one  way  or  an- 
other, till  he  finished  the  high  school  course,  in  a  way. 
It  was  a  kind  of  a  'scratch,'  but  they  finally  let  him 
graduate.  Then  his  mother  wanted  him  to  go  to  col- 
lege. But  the  boy  rebelled.  He  said  he  would  be 
willing  to  do  almost  anything  for  his  mother  (he  was 
a  good  boy),  but  that  what  she  asked  was  too  much. 
He  said  that  he  wanted  to  go  into  the  store. 

"  Well,  his  mother  and  I  talked  it  over,  and  she  cried 
about  it  some,  but  we  finally  concluded  that  we'd  do  as 
the  boy  wished ;  and  so  he  went  into  the  store.  I  started 
him  at  three  dollars  a  week.  He  was  seventeen  years 
old,  and  he  had  graduated  from  the  high  school ;  but 
three  dollars  a  week  was  all  he  could  earn,  to  start  on ; 
and  in  business  it  is  what  one  can  earn,  and  not  what 
diploma  he  has,  that  counts. 

"  That  was  twenty  years  ago,  and  during  those  years 
the  boy  has  grown  up  through  the  business  till  he  is 
now,  practically,  the  head  of  the  house.  He  is  able  to 
take  care  of  himself  and  his  family,  he  is  a  good  citizen, 
and  a  respected  and  worthy  part  of  the  community  he 


SHOOTING  TO  HIT 


231 


lives  in.  That  is,  it  seems  to  me  he  is  a  success,  a  man 
whose  life  is  really  worth  while." 

Here  the  narrator  paused  a  minute,  looked  out  of  the 
car  window  thoughtfully  for  a  brief  space,  and  then 
went  on  :  — 

"  Now  I  have  another  boy,  four  years  younger  than  the 
one  I  have  just  told  you  about.  He  is  naturally  just  as 
good  a  boy  as  his  brother,  and  is  very  much  brighter  in 
books.  He  always  led  his  classes,  and  was  greatly 
loved  and  admired  by  his  teachers  and  his  fellow  students. 

"  He  graduated  from  the  high  school  at  seventeen ; 
and  then,  because  he  wanted  to  go  to  college,  his  mother 
and  I  were  only  too  glad  to  have  him  do  so.  So  we  sent 
him  to  Yale  for  four  years,  where  he  made  a  record  that 
was  as  good  as  he  had  made  in  school  at  home.  He 
took  a  complete  classical  course,  studied  everything  that 
a  cultured  gentleman  ought  to  study,  and  came  through 
just  that,  just  a  cultured  gentleman.  He  didn't  try  to  fit 
himself  for  anything  in  particular  —  just  aimed  to  get  a 
first-class  education,  as  it  is  generally  counted,  and  he 
got  it. 

"  When  he  got  through  at  Yale,  he  wanted  to  do  some 
post-graduate  work  across  the  water  —  nothing  definite, 
but  only  in  the  line  of  general  culture,  which  he  was  very 
fond  of.  We  could  afford  to  do  this  for  him ;  for,  though 
I  am  not  a  rich  man,  yet  I  had  enough  to  let  the  boy  do 
as  he  liked  about  his  education.  So  he  spent  two  years  in 
Germany  and  France,  studying  there ;  and  then,  to  give 
him  all  that  could  be  had,  I  paid  his  expenses  for  two 
years  of  travel,  during  which  he  visited  the  principal 
countries  and  cities  of  the  world. 

"And  then  he  came  home!  He  was  a  handsome 
fellow,  twenty-five  years  old,  cultured,  refined,  polished ; 


232        ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

a  gentleman  and  a  scholar  in  the  full  sense  of  those  words. 
He  was  a  man  of  good  habits,  had  kept  himself  clean  and 
decent  on  the  moral  side  of  his  life,  in  a  word  he  was  an 
'ideal  gentleman.' 

"  That's  what  he  was  in  the  eyes  of  the  world.  But, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  was  as  helpless  a  mortal,  so  far  as 
earning  a  living  (at  least  such  a  living  as  he  had  always 
had,  such  a  one  as  I  had  given  him,  and  as  he  was 
thoroughly  used  to)  was  concerned,  as  he  was  when  he 
was  a  boy  in  knickerbockers !  He  simply  couldn't  do 
anything ;  and  the  worst  of  it  was,  he  didn't  want  to  do 
anything.  That  is,  anything  that  meant  work  for  pay. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  was  little  or  nothing  that  he 
could  do,  unless  it  was  to  teach  ;  and  he  couldn't  earn 
money  enough  at  that  to  keep  him  in  neckties  —  not  the 
kind  of  neckties  he  had  been  used  to  wearing. 

"  And  so  the  question  finally  came  up  what  to  do  with 
him.  We  tried  him  in  the  store,  but  it  was  no  good. 
He  didn't  know  a  thing  about  the  business,  and  he  was 
too  old  and  too  proud  to  learn.  He  couldn't  start  in  on 
three  dollars  a  week,  and  work  his  way  up.  He  had 
got  away  past  such  a  possibility;  and  yet,  practically, 
that  is  about  the  only  way  a  business  like  ours  can  be 
learned,  so  as  to  be  a  master  of  it.  In  our  business 
(yes,  in  any  business),  the  details  have  to  be  mastered,  if 
its  pursuit  is  made  a  success.  And  this  he  simply  could 
not  learn ;  nor  can  any  one  do  this,  situated  as  he  was, 
and  that  is  the  terribly  hard  thing  about  it. 

"  You  see,  his  habits  of  life  were  none  of  them  based 
on  business  principles.  He  loved  to  sleep  late  in  the 
morning,  and  he  wanted  to  have  my  coachman  bring 
him  down  to  the  store  whenever  he  got  ready  to  come. 
Sometimes  he  would  get  down  by  eight,  and  sometimes 


SHOOTING  TO  HIT 


233 


not  till  eleven.  We  put  him  on  the  correspondence,  but 
it  was  a  failure.  He  could  write  an  article  for  a  maga- 
zine, or  a  thesis  for  a  degree ;  but  he  couldn't  write  a 
business  letter,  one  that  would  be  of  value  in  our  busi- 
ness. He  hadn't  the  knowledge  of  details  that  was 
required  for  writing  such  a  letter.  We  tried  him  as  a 
salesman  on  the  road,  but  he  was  a  failure,  every- 
where. 

"And  as  for  entering  a  profession,  —  as  the  law,  or 
medicine,  or  the  pulpit,  at  his  time  of  life,  he  had  no  more 
show  there  than  he  had  in  our  business.  He  was  be- 
hind in  the  procession  in  everything  but  being  a  cul- 
tured gentleman ;  and  there  he  was  only  fitted  to  be 
taken  care  of  by  somebody  else,  to  have  some  one  else 
pay  the  bills.  There  was  nothing  that  he  could  do  that 
would  bring  him  twenty  dollars  a  week.  No  one  could 
afford  to  pay  him  even  so  much,  for  he  couldn't  earn  it 
at  anything  that  he  could  turn  his  hand  to. 

"  He  is  now  thirty-three  years  old,  right  in  the  prime 
of  his  young  manhood.  He  isn't  married,  and  I  doubt 
if  he  ever  will  be.  I'd  be  glad  to  have  him  marry,  and 
to  settle  enough  on  him  to  take  care  of  him  in  a  modest 
way.  But  he  is  too  proud  for  that.  And  I  couldn't  give 
him  an  allowance  which  would  meet  the  requirements 
of  himself  and  such  a  woman  as  he  would  want  to  marry, 
if  he  married  at  all. 

"  And  so,  Mr.  Smith,  there  is  only  one  word  that  will 
describe  the  condition  of  this  son  of  mine,  to-day,  and 
that  is  the  terrible  word  '  failure ! '  That  is  the  saddest 
word  I  know  anything  about,  especially  when  it  describes 
the  condition  of  a  capable  young  life." 

There  were  tears  in  the  old  man's  eyes  as  he  said 
this.     And  then  we  both  looked  out  of  the  car  window 


234       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

for  a  long  time,  and  said  nothing.     But  after  awhile  he 
went  on :  — 

"  And  so  I  say  that  if  I  had  a  score  of  boys,  I  would 
never  permit  another  one  of  them  to  get  a  purposeless 
education.  This  tragedy  in  our  boy's  life  is  the  result 
of  our  own  false  notions.  I  don't  know  that  we  are  to 
blame,  or  that  he  is  to  blame ;  but  we  are  all  suffering 
from  a  great  mistake,  and  what  the  end  is  to  be,  God 
only  knows." 

Now  this  is  no  "  made-up  story,"  good  people.  It  is 
"  the  real  thing  " ;  and  you  know  its  duplicates,  or  per- 
haps scores  of  just  such  cases.  And  isn't  it  tragedy  of 
the  "most  deepest  dye".-'  Such  cases  are  seen  every- 
where, and  their  number  is  on  the  increase  daily.  Fur- 
thermore, it  is  as  true  of  young  women  as  it  is  of  young 
men.     And  the  pathos  of  it  is  immeasurable  ! 

Of  course,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  all  this  is  but  another 
relic  of  other  days.  These  young  people,  who  do  as  I 
have  described,  are  only  following  in  the  ways  of  the 
sons  and  daughters  of  the  nobility  across  the  water,  of 
young  people  who,  according  to  the  code,  are  born  to 
be  taken  care  of ;  who  never  work,  nor  need  to  think 
of  earning  their  own  living.  That  is  the  way  of  mon- 
archy, and  under  such  a  regime  it  doubtless  has  its  place. 
But  the  pity  of  such  ways  among  the  common  people  of 
a  democracy  —  there  are  no  words  that  can  describe  the 
wrong  of  such  condition.  And  yet  every  boy  and  girl 
that  our  schools  send  out  purposeless,  they  send  out  to 
the  probability  of  such  a  fate  as  I  have  described. 
Every  parent  who  permits  a  son  or  a  daughter  to  lead 
such  an  aimless  life  in  school  work  is  laying  up  wrath 
against  a  day  of  doom. 

Now  I  do  not  think  that  every  boy  or  girl  can  say, 


SHOOTING  TO  HIT  235 

for  sure,  what  he  or  she  should  do  for  a  living  when 
they  are  grown  up.  Nor  do  I  think  that  parents  can 
settle  this  for  them,  with  positive  accuracy,  every  time; 
nor  that  teachers  can  determine  the  matter  without  mis- 
take. But  I  do  believe  that,  in  the  cases  of  nearly  all 
children,  somewhere  between  the  ages  of  fourteen  and 
eighteen,  these  three  parties  together,  the  pupil,  the 
parent,  and  the  teacher  —  that  this  combination  can 
settle,  with  reasonable  definiteness,  what  work  in  life 
each  pupil  is  best  suited  to  perform.  In  many  cases 
(I  could  almost  say  in  most)  this  could  be  determined 
much  earlier  in  the  life  of  the  child.  Personally,  I  know 
scores  of  children  who  are  not  yet  in  their  teens,  who 
show  such  unmistakable  signs  of  their  bent  of  mind, 
their  likes  and  dislikes,  their  longages  and  shortages, 
that  it  would  be  perfectly  safe  to  predict  what  work  in 
Ufe  they  will  best  succeed  in.  And  my  experience  is 
yours,  I  am  sure. 

And  then,  having  chosen  the  line  of  life  work  for  a 
child,  there  can  no  longer  be  any  doubt  that  the  wise 
thing  to  do  is  to  train  him  or  her  along  that  particular 
line,  to  the  best  advantage  possible. 

And  again  I  say,  there  is  no  need  of  fear  that  by 
doing  this  we  shall  make  one-sided  men  and  women. 
Or,  if  it  be  admitted  that  there  is  such  a  danger,  is  it 
not  true  that  a  one-sided  man  or  woman  is  far  preferable 
to  one  who  has  so  many  sides  that  none  of  them  are  of 
any  account  in  making  a  living .'' 

The  fact  is,  the  day  of  the  all-round  man  has  forever 
passed.  In  the  days  of  my  father,  no  further  back  than 
that,  it  was  possible  for  one  mind  to  compass  a  very  large 
part  of  the  full  sum  of  knowledge  that  was  then  avail- 
able.    But  no  one  can  do  that  now ;  and  the  man  who 


236       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

tries  to  do  it,  or  the  school  that  tries  to  have  him  do  it, 
will  end  in  failure. 

When  I  was  a  boy  I  went  out  hunting  prairie 
chickens.  There  were  thousands  of  them  in  the  fields 
in  those  days.  I  was  with  an  old  hunter,  and  the  first 
covey  of  birds  that  we  flushed,  I  up  with  my  gun,  shut 
my  eyes,  and  blazed  away  at  the  flock.  And  I  never 
touched  a  feather !  After  I  had  done  that  a  few  times, 
the  old  man  said  to  me,  **  That's  no  way  to  shoot 
chickens,  my  boy !  When  the  flock  rises,  I  don't  care  if 
there's  a  million  of  'em,  just  pick  out  one  bird  out  of  the 
lot,  and  bring  your  gun  up  till  you  can  see  that  bird 
right  over  the  top  of  your  gun-barrel,  and  then  shoot, 
and  that  bird  is  your  meat !  " 

And  it  was  so. 

Some  day  we  shall  train  our  boys  and  girls  in  our 
public  schools,  and  in  our  colleges  and  universities,  to 
shoot  to  hit,  leading  them  to  see  that  even  one  bird  at  a 
time  is  a  great  deal  better  than  simply  a  loud  report 
with  nothing  but  noise  to  show  for  it,  while  some  one 
else  pays  the  bills  ! 

But  we  are  more  to  be  pitied  than  blamed  for  our 
wrong-goings  in  this  matter.  We  have  been  so  long 
drilled  to  think  that  such  is  the  only  and  best  way ;  and 
it  has  for  so  long  been  counted  as  so  "  respectable." 
As  recent  an  authority  as  James  Russell  Lowell  has 
said  that  "  a  university  is  a  place  where  nothing  useful 
should  be  taught."  Lowell  was  a  great  man,  in  many 
ways,  but  he  was  "  short "  in  his  ideas  as  to  the  true 
purpose  of  educative  work,  for  the  people  of  a  democ- 
racy who  have  to  earn  a  living  and  hoe  their  own 
rows. 


CHAPTER   XXVII 

JUST  A   LITTLE  ABOUT   TEACHERS 

Personal  Relations  of  Teachers  and  Pupils  —  Palmer's  "  New  Edu- 
cation"—  Public  Schools  not  Charitable  Institutions  —  Poverty 
no  Just  Claim  for  Position  of  Teacher  —  Letter  regarding  "  Young 
Graduates  "  and  "  Old  Teachers  "  —  Newness  of  Work  required 
by  Modern  Educational  Demands  makes  it  difficult  to  get  Effi- 
cient Teachers  —  Testimony  of  Superintendent  on  this  Issue  — 
Special  Pedagogical  Training,  all  along  the  Line,  needful  —  How 
Engineers  are  made  —  Railroad  and  School  Methods  compared 

—  Inefficiency  of  Mere  Academic  Culture  for  Technical  School 
Room  Work  —  Where,  and  by  what  Teachers,  Poorest  Pedagogi- 
cal Work  is  now  done  —  Uniform  State  Examinations  of  Teachers 

—  A  Dehumanized  Method  —  The  Only  Way  to  learn  how  to 
Teach  —  Normal  Schools — Politics,  Religion,  and  Teachers. 

The  doing  of  such  work  as  has  been  outlined  in  the 
previous  chapter  will  necessitate  the  closest  personal 
relations  between  pupils  and  teachers,  during  the  whole 
of  the  child's  school  life.  This  is  at  variance  with  the 
ways  of  college  and  university  life,  especially  in  the 
larger  institutions  of  this  sort.  In  the  smaller  colleges 
things  are  better  in  this  respect,  and  that  is  one  item 
in  favor  of  a  small  college.  But  in  our  public  schools 
the  principle  of  the  personal  interest  of  the  teachers  in 
all  their  pupils  should  extend  to  the  farthest  boundary. 
Only  such  teachers  should  be  permitted  in  these 
schools  as  love  the  work,  and  also  love  the  pupils  they 
work  for  and  with.  It  may  be  a  long  time  till  then,  but 
our  schools  are  young  yet,  and  they  are  arriving. 

In  that  sterling  book  of  his,  "  The  New  Education," 

237 


238        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

Professor  A.  M.  Palmer,  of  Harvard,  has  told  how 
things  ought  to  be  in  this  respect,  and  some  day  the 
ways  he  has  outlined  will  be  realized. 

To  reach  such  an  attainment,  one  of  the  first  removes 
that  must  be  made  from  current  ways  will  be  getting 
rid  of  the  idea  that  our  public  schools  are  charitable 
institutions,  and  so  that  it  is  a  part  of  their  business  to 
make  places  for  teachers  who  "need  the  money." 
That  these  schools  are  such  institutions  is  a  deep-seated 
belief  which  is  very  largely  held  by  the  rank  and  file 
of  our  people  at  present,  and  hence  it  will  be  very  slow 
in  its  abatement.  None  the  less,  it  must  pass  with 
other  inherited  things  that  are  no  longer  of  use. 

That  this  idea  is  so  prevalent  is  no  wonder,  for  the 
public  schools  grew  out  of  an  order  of  things  in  which 
charity  was  the  chief  factor.  But  that  condition  no 
longer  obtains.  The  simple  truth  is  that,  since  the 
schools  have  become  "common,"  since  they  are  now  a 
part  of  the  state's  way  of  doing  the  best  it  can  to  insure 
a  constituency  of  good  citizens ;  since  this  is  now  the 
mission  and  status  of  the  schools,  they  have  become  the 
most  practical  kind  of  a  business  proposition.  Their 
business  is  to  make  good  citizens,  first-class  members  of 
the  body  politic,  which  is  only  another  phrase  for  good 
men  and  women.  And  the  making  of  good  men  and 
women  out  of  children  does  not  necessitate,  as  a  factor, 
the  taking  care  of  a  lot  of  men  and  women  by  paying 
them  to  do  work  which  they  are  wholly  unfit  for,  by 
employing  as  teachers  those  whose  chief  claim  for  the 
place  is  their  poverty ! 

It  may  be  necessary  for  the  state  to  care  for  such 
poverty-stricken  people,  to  feed  and  clothe  them ;  but 
it  has  no  right  to  try  to  shirk  such  provision  for  want 


JUST  A  LITTLE  ABOUT  TEACHERS  239 

or  misfortune  by  foisting  these  incompetents  upon  the 
public  schools  in  the  guise  of  teachers,  and  so,  not  only 
forcing  people  to  support  them  in  that  way,  but  com- 
pelling the  children  to  suffer  from  their  inability.  I 
would  not  be  harsh  in  saying  this,  yet  it  is  a  word  that 
needs  to  be  said,  and  to  be  said  out  loud  —  very  loud. 

Because  it  may  seem  to  some  of  my  readefs  that  I 
have  overestimated  the  way  people  feel  about  our 
schools  in  the  matter  and  the  belief  they  have  that  they 
should  be  used  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  "  need  the 
money,"  I  insert  just  here  a  letter  that  I  took  from  a 
local  newspaper  of  a  moderate-sized  city,  a  few  days 
ago,  as  follows  :  — 

"  I  think  it  is  about  time  the  old  teachers  stepped  out 
and  gave  the  young  graduates  that  are  turned  out  of  our 
high  school  every  year  a  chance.  I  think  it  would  be 
a  good  plan  to  change  teachers,  as  well  as  school  in- 
spectors, more  often.  Let  them  know  there  are  other 
ladies  that  can  teach  those  rooms,  and  some  need  the 
money  and  position  worse  than  the  present  teachers  in 
some  cases  I  am  sure." 

And  say  not  in  your  hearts  that  the  writer  of  this 
letter  is  a  sinner  above  all  others.  I  tell  you  nay,  but 
the  case  is  common,  more's  the  pity.  But  it  must  pass 
with  the  rest  of  our  bad  inheritances,  and  it  will  do  so 
in  due  time.     Meanwhile,  let's  help  it  to  go. 

Another  change  that  presents  exceeding  difficulties  is 
the  training  of  teachers  so  that  they  shall  be  well  fitted 
to  do  the  new  work  that  is  required  to  be  done  in  our 
public  schools.  This  is  especially  the  case  in  the  man- 
ual training  and  domestic  economy  lines  of  school  work. 
Here,  the  ways  are  all  so  new  that  trouble  crops  out 
and  creeps  in,  in  all  attempts  to  do  what  is  so  needful 


240       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

to  be  done.  What  are  the  best  things  to  be  done  in 
these  two  lines  of  school  work,  and  how  shall  the  work 
proposed  be  accomplished  ?  These  and  other  equally 
important  questions  crowd  to  the  front  wherever  such 
work  has  been  attempted. 

It  is  only  a  short  time  since  a  superintendent  of  one 
of  our  leading  cities  said  to  me :  "  I  fear  that  our  whole 
effort  in  manual  training  and  domestic  economy  will  fail, 
because  I  cannot  get  teachers  who  can  do  what  it  seems 
to  me  ought  to  be  done."  He  went  on  to  say  further  : 
"  I  confess  I  don't  know  myself  what  ought  to  be  done, 
either  in  courses  of  study  or  in  carrying  them  out  if  once 
they  are  determined  upon.  I  have  never  had  any  ex- 
perience in  such  lines  of  work,  and  so  I  know  next  to 
nothing  about  it.  In  our  shop,  I  first  got  a  man  for  a 
teacher  who  had  had  training  in  the  theory  of  such 
work.  He  was  a  good  man,  viewed  from  that  stand- 
point; but  when  he  came  to  actually  handling  tools,  to 
really  doing  the  things  he  talked  about,  and  tried  to 
teach,  here  he  fell  down,  miserably  !  Then  I  got  a  prac- 
tical mechanic,  and  put  him  in  charge.  He  could  use 
tools,  but  he  knew  nothing  of  teaching,  and  the  boys  ran 
over  him,  and  so  his  work  was  a  failure." 

It  was  an  honest  confession,  and  it  stated  the  situation 
as  it  is  to-day,  to  a  great  extent,  all  over  the  country,  so 
far  as  this  kind  of  work  in  our  schools  is  concerned. 
Nor  will  the  situation  get  very  much  better  right  away. 
It  is  a  long  road  we  shall  have  to  travel  in  this  respect, 
but  we  shall  cover  the  ground  as  the  years  go  by. 

Some  of  our  state  universities  and  polytechnic 
schools  are  beginning  to  give  special  attention  to  the 
development  of  directive  courses  of  study  and  practice 
in  these  fields,  and  to  the  training  of  men  and  women  to 


JUST  A  LITTLE  ABOUT  TEACHERS  241 

teach  the  work  which  they  outline.  But  better  than  this, 
in  a  good  many  ways,  our  public  schools  will  gradually 
work  these  problems  out  for  themselves.  Always,  when 
the  need  comes,  men  and  women  appear  who  are  equal 
to  the  doing  of  the  task  required.  Gradually,  teachers 
will  arise  who  will  point  out  the  ways  that  can  be  trav- 
eled successfully.  No  one  teacher  will  do  all  this,  but 
here  one,  and  there  another,  will  discover  and  work  out 
the  things  that  ought  to  be  done,  to  a  degree,  and  then 
will  reveal  to  others  what  they  have  found  out,  and  so 
the  work  will  proceed.  Just  here  comes  in  the  most 
excellent  directive  work  that  some  manual  training  and 
domestic  economy  magazines  are  now  giving  to  teachers 
and  the  public. 

But,  more  than  ail  this,  there  is  destined  to  be  a  great 
advance,  in  the  not  distant  future,  in  the  way  we  train 
our  teachers  to  teach.  The  calhng  will  become  more 
and  more  a  profession,  which  no  one  will  be  permitted  to 
enter  who  has  not  received  adequate  training,  and  who 
has  not  had  the  experience  that  is  essential  to  the  suc- 
cessful doing  of  the  work  required.  This  principle 
obtains  in  almost  every  other  trade  or  profession  that 
can  be  named.  The  reason  it  is  not  insisted  upon  in  the 
matter  of  teaching  is  that,  as  yet,  the  pedagogical  side  of 
the  situation  is  but  very  poorly  understood  and  compre- 
hended by  the  people  as  they  go  —  by  the  patrons  of  the 
schools.  Here  is  the  crux  of  the  whole  situation,  the 
lack  of  understanding  on  the  part  of  the  public  in  gen- 
eral, and  of  parents  in  particular,  as  to  what  real  teach- 
ing is. 

Because  people  get  killed  on  railroads  through  the 
incompetence  of  engineers,  we  insist  that  the  men  who 
handle    locomotives    shall    have    special  training    and 


242        ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

experience  before  they  are  given  charge  of  an  engine  on 
the  road.  And  this  must  be  genuine  training  and  actual 
experience,  too.  It  must  be  something  more  than  going 
through  the  motions  of  engineering,  of  studying  the 
theory  of  air  brakes  and  time-tables.  A  man  must  serve 
a  seven  years'  apprenticeship  in  doing  the  subordinate 
work  that  leads  up  to  the  place  of  engineer,  before  he  is 
given  entire  control  of  an  engine  doing  actual  work  on  a 
road. 

Let  me  push  this  comparison  a  little  farther.  There 
are  most  excellent  schools  in  this  country  for  the  train- 
ing of  locomotive  engineers.  These  schools  have  a 
most  comprehensive  curriculum,  which  includes  four 
years  of  work  in  shops  and  on  engines,  and  which  is 
just  as  near  the  real  thing  as  it  is  possible  to  attain  to 
without  the  real  thing  itself.  Such  schools  have  loco- 
motives so  mounted  that  they  can  go  through  all  the 
motions  of  engines  in  actual  use  on  the  road.  These 
locomotives  can  be  made  to  run  at  any  speed  that  is 
possible  for  any  ordinary  engine.  They  can  be  so 
manipulated  that  they  will  put  forth  the  energy  required 
to  draw  any  kind  of  a  train  or  any  number  of  cars,  such 
as  they  would  ever  be  called  on  to  handle  in  the  regular 
work  on  the  road.  They  are  regularly  equipped  with 
air  brakes,  both  for  themselves  and  for  the  train  they 
are  supposed  to  be  handling.  In  a  word,  each  such 
outfit  is  a  perfect  suppositional  engine  and  train,  and 
its  handling  is  designed  to  include  all  the  exigencies 
that  would  arise  in  actual  railroading. 

The  students  have  four  years  of  training  in  the  work 
of  building  engines,  taking  them  apart  and  putting  them 
together,  repairing  them,  and  running  them  under  all 
sorts  of  supposed  conditions.     They  learn  all  about  air 


JUST  A  LITTLE  ABOUT  TEACHERS  243 

brakes,  and  all  the  paraphernalia  of  cars,  both  freight 
and  passenger.  They  study  all  the  theories  regarding 
these  things,  and  have  the  advantage  of  the  best  litera- 
ture and  the  ablest  teachers  that  the  world  affords  on  all 
these  lines.  Four  years  of  this  work  they  have,  and  it 
is  good,  honest,  substantial,  and  solid  work,  too. 

Now,  would  it  not  seem  that  young  men,  so  trained, 
would  be  well  fitted  to  go  right  to  work  and  successfully 
handle  a  locomotive  on  a  railroad .?  Theoretically,  it 
appears  so,  surely.  And  yet,  note  the  facts  in  the  case. 
Not  one  of  the  graduates  from  such  a  school,  not  from 
the  best  of  them  (and  there  are  several  most  excellent 
schools  of  this  kind  in  the  country),  not  one  graduate 
from  the  best  of  them  all,  not  even  the  leader  in  &is 
class,  could  get  a  position,  even  as  engineer  on  a  switch 
engine,  on  any  standard  railroad  in  the  United  States, 
or  elsewhere,  on  the  strength  of  his  credentials  and  his 
diploma  alone,  or  because  of  the  work  he  had  done  in 
such  schools.  To  the  uninitiated,  that  may  seem  strange 
and  perhaps  hard ;  but  it  is  a  fact  that  inquiry  will  read- 
ily verify. 

Now  why  is  all  this  ?  Simply  because  the  managers 
of  railroads  are  practical,  hard-headed  business  men, 
whom  experience  has  taught  that  it  is  not  safe  to  put 
men  who  are  only  theoretically  trained  into  actual  work. 
These  merely  school-bred  men  all  lack  the  one  thing 
needful,  namely,  actual  experience  with  the  real  thing ; 
and  this  can  only  be  obtained  by  contact  with  the  real 
thing.     That  is  the  situation. 

How,  then,  do  these  graduates  from  locomotive  en- 
gineering ever  get  into  the  places  they  have  been  edu- 
cated to  fill.?  Are  such  schools  a  failure,  and  does  the 
long,  hard  work  done  in  them  count  for  nothing }  Here 


244       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

is  the  rest  of  the  story  :  When  these  graduates  leave 
school  and  seek  places  on  the  road,  they  are  set  to  work 
at  the  foot  of  the  ladder,  and  from  there  they  are  obliged 
to  work  their  way  up.  They  are  given  trial  jobs  of  the 
simplest  sorts,  and  thus  they  are  tested  to  prove  what 
manner  of  men  they  are.  In  a  word,  they  are  examined 
by  actual  tests,  not  by  mere  memory  grinds,  and  are 
proved  by  what  they  can  do,  and  not  by  what  they  can 
write  on  paper. 

Such  graduates  are  put  to  work  wiping  the  dirt  and 
oil  from  engines  in  the  roundhouse,  to  start  on  !  If  they 
do  this  work  well,  and  prove  themselves  masters  of  it, 
they  are  promoted  to  more  difficult  tasks,  and  so  they 
mount  the  ladder  of  their  chosen  calling.  As  a  rule,  it 
takes  about  three  years  for  such  a  graduate  to  get  an 
engine  that  he  can  have  entire  charge  of,  in  actual 
service  on  the  road.  For  the  man  who  starts  out  to  get 
such  a  place  without  this  special  school-training  in  a 
school  for  locomotive  engineering,  it  takes  seven  years 
to  secure  such  a  position.  And  so  the  men  are  com- 
paratively even  at  the  end  of  the  first  seven  years. 
After  that,  I  am  told,  the  odds  are  largely  in  favor  of 
the  school-trained  man ;  though  that  is  neither  here  nor 
there,  so  far  as  this  discussion  is  concerned.  I  only 
mention  it  to  show  that  this  sort  of  school  work  does 
pay,  and  that  it  is  for  the  best  in  the  long  run. 

But  the  point  I  want  to  make  is  this  :  That,  whereas, 
after  a  man  has  had  these  four  long  years  of  very  nearly 
practical  work  in  training  to  be  an  engineer,  and  even 
then  is  not  permitted  to  take  charge  of  an  engine  until 
he  has  had  three  years  more  of  actual  experience  on  the 
road  —  whereas  all  this  is  so,  yet,  in  school  work,  we 
will  take  a  graduate  from  almost  anywhere  between  a 


JUST  A  LITTLE  ABOUT  TEACHERS  245 

grammar  school  and  a  university  course,  and  put  him  in 
full  charge  of  a  roomful  of  boys  and  girls,  and  expect 
him  to  do  successful  work  as  a  teacher,  even  if  he  has 
never  actually  taught  a  single  day  !  Was  ever  anything 
more  preposterously  foolish  or  irrational,  not  to  say 
positively  insane  ? 

Because,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  successfully  running  an 
engine  is  a  simple  attainment  when  compared  with 
successfully  teaching  a  school.  This  is  not  generally 
reckoned  to  be  the  case,  but  it  is  so,  all  the  same.  And 
the  reason  for  this  misunderstanding,  on  the  part  of  the 
public  in  general,  and  of  parents  in  particular,  lies  in 
the  fact  that  teaching  blunders  are  not  as  palpable  as 
engineering  mistakes  and  errors  are.  If  an  engineer 
is  incompetent  and  fails  to  do  his  duty,  tangible  property 
is  destroyed  or  lives  are  lost,  and  these  are  things  that 
everybody  can  see  and  know  about,  and  that  everybody 
knows  the  value  of.  But  if  a  teacher  blunders,  and  as 
a  result  boys  and  girls  drop  out  of  school  and  so  fail  to 
get  what  they  ought  to  have,  for  lack  of  which  they  will 
suffer  all  their  lives  —  when  this  happens,  it  is  a  personal 
or  private  affair ;  very  few  know  anything  about  it,  and 
still  fewer  care  anything  about  it,  anyway,  and  so  the 
matter  passes  unnoticed  year  after  year. 

But,  oh,  the  truth  about  these  blunders  of  teachers 
who  so  wreck  the  children's  lives,  and  who  (more's  the 
pity)  have  no  idea  of  what  ruin  they  are  causing  or 
permitting !  This  part  of  the  story  is  simply  untellable. 
Yet,  even  here,  no  one  is  really  to  blame.  We  haven't, 
any  of  us,  meant  to  be  so  bad,  to  really  do  wrong.  But 
we  have  been  bad,  and  we  are  doing  wrong  every  time 
we  permit  a  teacher  to  take  a  place  in  our  schoolrooms 
merely  on  academic  credentials.     The  ordinary  test  of 


246       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  .\LL  THE  PEOPLE 

teaching  ability  that  is  now  made  by  mere  written 
examinations  of  the  candidates  is  practically  of  little  or 
no  value  whatever  in  determining  the  real  worth  of 
the  individual  in  actual  schoolroom  work.  This  is  just 
as  true  of  state  examination  tests  as  it  is  of  county 
superintendents'  tests,  or  of  city  superintendents'  tests. 
The  written  work  done  by  such  candidates  no  more 
proves  their  ability  to  teach  than  merely  written  tests 
of  an  engineer  would  prove  his  ability  to  successfully 
handle  an  engine,  in  actual  work  on  the  road.  Nay,  it 
does  not  nearly  as  much  demonstrate  the  thing  which 
it  is  set  to  prove,  in  the  first  case,  as  it  would  in  the 
last,  because,  successful  teaching  is  as  much  more 
subtle  and  difficult  a  task  than  engineering,  as  the 
mind  of  a  child  is  more  complicated  and  difficult  of 
handling  than  is  a  mass  of  iron  and  steel. 

And  yet,  as  things  are  now,  a  diploma  of  almost  any 
kind,  surely  one  granted  by  a  college  or  a  normal  school, 
is  almost  a  sesame  open  to  a  position  as  teacher  in  our 
public  schools.  Such  a  document  is,  by  itself,  no  positive 
evidence  whatever  of  ability  to  teach  children  successfully. 
The  knowledge  that  the  diploma  vouches  for  may  be 
essential  to  successful  schoolroom  work,  but  the  mere 
possession  of  this  knowledge  is  no  proof  of  ability  to  teach. 
Indeed,  the  poorest  work  I  have  ever  seen  done  in  our 
public  schools  has  been  at  the  hands  of  college  graduates 
who  were  teaching  in  grammar  grades,  and  who  had  no 
experience  in  teaching.  I  have  seen  work  done  by  such 
as  these  that  would  break  your  heart ! 

There  are  thousands  of  schoolrooms  in  this  country 
the  work  of  which  will  prove  the  truth  of  the  statement 
just  made.  The  men  and  women  in  charge  of  very  many 
of  these   schoolrooms  are  book  educated  and  memory 


JUST  A  LITTLE  ABOUT  TEACHERS  247 

trained  sufficiently  for  their  places ;  but  they  know  very 
little  or  nothing  about  teaching.  The  thing  they  chiefly 
know  how  to  do  is  to  assign  pages  to  be  memorized,  and 
to  stand  pupils  up  and  see  if  they  can  repeat  what  they 
have  been  asked  to  learn !  Besides  this,  they  must  be 
able  to  "keep  order"  and  "not  allow  whispering,"  and 
to  see  to  it  that  the  pupils  march  out  and  in  well.  In 
how  many  of  our  public  schools  is  this  and  the  like  of 
this  called  good  teaching  ?     You  answer. 

Bearing  upon  which,  I  have  recently  seen  the  practical 
work  of  an  attempt  that  is  now  making,  in  some  states, 
of  having  a  State  Board  of  Examination  pass  upon  the 
qualifications  of  all  the  teachers  of  that  state.  These 
examiners  issue  questions  for  the  examinations,  and  send 
them  to  the  county  superintendents,  who  submit  them 
to  the  candidates  for  teaching.  The  candidates  write 
answers  to  the  questions  submitted,  and  their  papers  are 
sent  to  the  State  Board,  to  "  mark  "  and  pass  upon.  No 
names  are  attached  to  the  papers  (they  are  only  num- 
bered to  identify  them)  and  the  examiners  do  not  even 
know,  when  passing  upon  a  given  paper,  whether  it  was 
written  by  a  man  or  woman !  And  from  such  absolutely 
dehumanized,  impersonal  data  the  examiners  are  supposed 
to  be  able  to  determine  whether  or  not  the  candidates 
they  pass  upon  are  fitted  to  teach  !  What  railroad  would 
remain  solvent  for  one  year  if  it  examined  its  engineers 
in  this  way .-'  What  does  your  common  sense  tell  you 
about  it  ? 

Yet  I  would  not  too  much  blame  this  attempt  at  doing 
the  right  thing.  For  such  an  attempt  it  is.  There  were 
evils  under  the  system  which  it  was  set  to  better;  but 
they  must  have  been  very  bad  if  this  way  will  mend 
them.      The  primary   factor   in   good   teaching  is  the 


248        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

personality  of  the  teacher,  and  this  is  left  at  the  zero 
point  by  such  a  method  of  judging  of  pedagogic  qualifi- 
cations. This  system  of  state  examinations,  as  I  saw  it 
exploited,  was  well  and  faithfully  done  by  good  men  and 
women,  but  I  cannot  believe  that  any  great  good  will 
ever  come  of  it. 

The  way  to  learn  how  to  teach  is  to  teach,  as  the  way 
to  learn  how  to  run  an  engine  is  to  run  an  engine.  But 
neither  can  be  done  successfully  out  of  hand,  or  without 
long  practice  under  competent  instruction.  I  would  not 
want  to  say  that  no  person  should  ever  be  permitted  to 
teach  who  had  not  been  especially  trained  for  the  pro- 
fession, any  more  than  I  would  want  to  say  that  no  per- 
son should  ever  be  permitted  to  run  an  engine  until  he 
had  had  seven  years  of  preliminary  work.  There  are 
geniuses  in  all  callings.  I  know  good  teachers  who 
have  had  but  very  little  training  outside  of  their  own 
experience.  I  know  first-class  engineers  who  have  come 
to  their  own  in  the  same  way.  But  these  are  all  excep- 
tions. They  are  not  the  kind  to  go  by,  for  the  rank  and 
file  of  us.  As  a  rule,  it  takes  years  of  special  training 
under  first-class  direction  and  instruction  to  make  a  good 
teacher,  just  as  it  takes  similar  experience  and  method 
to  make  a  good  engineer. 

Our  normal  schools  and  our  pedagogical  classes  in 
colleges  and  universities  have  already  done  a  great  deal 
in  the  way  of  training  teachers  to  teach ;  but  if  the  real 
truth  be  told,  even  these  have  as  yet  done  but  partially 
what  needs  to  be  done  much  more  thoroughly.  The 
reason  for  making  this  statement  is  the  fact  that  little 
of  their  work  is  the  real  thing.  Those  who  do  it  are 
doing  suppositional  work.  Their  work  corresponds 
almost  exactly  with  the  training  given  to  engineers  by 


JUST  A  LITTLE  ABOUT  TEACHERS  249 

their  training  schools.  And  such  graduates  all  need  to 
serve  a  practical  apprenticeship  in  actual  schoolroom 
work  done  under  competent  supervision,  before  they 
are  given  full  control  of  a  roomful  of  children,  or, 
especially,  before  they  are  put  in  command  of  a  corps 
of  teachers ! 

And  yet,  how  common  a  thing  it  is  for  a  man  or 
woman  who  has  never  taught  a  day,  to  be  given  even 
the  position  of  principal  or  superintendent  of  schools, 
solely  because  he  or  she  has  graduated  from  some  scho- 
lastic institution  !  A  similar  system  pursued  in  railroad- 
ing would  very  shortly  ruin  any  road  that  tried  the 
experiment.  That  it  has  served  our  schools  no  worse  is 
a  proof  of  how  much  abuse  a  well-grounded  institution 
can  stand  and  not  go  to  the  wall. 

Some  day  we  shall  insist  on  practical  experience  in 
teaching  on  the  part  of  every  applicant  for  an  independ- 
ent position  in  our  schools;  and,  further,  we  shall 
examine  all  candidates  for  such  positions,  not  merely  on 
their  scholastic  attainments,  and  that  in  an  impersonal 
way,  but  by  personal  inspection,  by  competent  judges,  of 
the  actual  schoolroom  work  that  the  applicants  can  do. 
That  will  be  an  examination  which  worthy  teachers  will 
never  think  of  shrinking  from,  but  which,  on  the  con- 
trary, they  will  be  proud  to  undergo  —  as  proud  as  a 
competent  engineer  always  is  to  demonstrate  to  the 
superintendent  how  skillfully  he  can  handle  an  engine. 
In  those  days,  candidates  for  teacher's  certificate,  either 
county  or  state,  will  not  wear  their  lives  away  memorizing 
cyclopedias,  and  in  other  ways  making  themselves  ready 
to  answer,  on  the  instant,  any  one  of  a  thousand  and 
one  questions  that  really  have  no  relation  whatever  to 
teaching  school. 


250       ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

I  would  not  be  pessimistic  or  faultfinding  for  its 
own  sake ;  and  every  honest  observer  of  our  schools 
knows,  from  the  observations  I  have  made,  that  I  am 
neither.  As  I  have  already  intimated,  the  whole  situa- 
tion is  far  more  our  misfortune  than  our  fault,  and  now 
that  we  are  coming  to  understand  the  real  conditions  in 
the  premises,  we  are  setting  about  making  them  what 
they  should  be. 

Of  course,  a  successful  settling  of  this  dii!iculty  means 
ever  so  many  more  things  than  I  can  discuss  here. 
It  takes  in  all  the  issues  of  permanency  in  the  pro- 
fession, salaries,  tenure  of  place,  and  scores  of  other 
things,  none  of  which  can  be  settled  in  a  day,  or  in 
many  days.  But  the  fact  that  we  are  coming  to  com- 
prehend the  truth  that  teaching  is  a  profession  as 
engineering  is  a  calling ;  that  the  mere  possession  of  a 
memory-knowledge  of  what  is  in  books  is  no  criterion 
for  successful  training  of  boys  and  girls  in  a  school- 
room; that  our  schools  are  not  for  the  support  of 
teachers  whose  chief  claim  for  place  is  the  fact  that 
they  are  without  visible  means  of  support ;  that  no 
place  in  a  schoolroom  is  to  be  used  for  payment  of  any 
political,  or  social,  or  denominational  debt,  —  the  fact 
that  at  least  some  people  are  coming  to  see  these 
things  as  they  are  is  a  hopeful  sign,  and  all  the  results 
towards  which  this  sign  points  will  come  in  due  time. 

Meantime,  let  us  all  do  what  we  can  to  secure  as 
good  results  as  we  can,  while  we  wait. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII 

THE  PARENTAL  FACTOR 

Difficulties  of  this  Phase  of  the  Problem  —  "  Fixed  Ideas  "  of  Parents 
—  Parental  Plans  for  Career  of  Unborn  Progeny  —  Heredity  — 
Darwin,  Burbank,  Shaw  —  Persistence  of  an  Exploded  Theory  — 
An  Instance  in  point  —  Musical  Father  and  his  Daughter  —  The 
Artist  in  Color  but  not  in  Tone  —  God's  Way  and  Man's  Way  — 
The  "Conventional"  and  the  "Rivalry"  Factors  —  Unfairness 
and  Wrong  of  Such  Practices  —  Mrs.  Grundy  as  a  Trouble-maker 
just  here  —  The  Value  of  Struggle  well  understood  and  well 
directed  —  The  Real  Hero. 

There  are  two  chief  items  in  the  count  in  consider- 
ing parents  as  they  stand  related  to  an  educational 
problem  that  includes  all  the  children  of  all  the  people. 
The  first  is  the  difficulty  in  getting  parents  to  realize,  or 
at  least  acknowledge,  the  way  their  children  are;  and 
the  second  is  the  still  greater  task  of  inducing  them  to 
do  what  ought  to  be  done  under  the  circumstances. 

For  instance,  in  the  first  place  it  is  a  matter  of  com- 
mon knowledge  that  almost  all  fathers  and  mothers 
have  preconceived  ideas  as  to  what  they  wish  their 
children  to  be  when  they  are  grown  up.  This  is  often 
not  a  general  and  indefinite  affair,  but  is  frequently  very 
specific  and  direct.  Not  infrequently  these  ideas  take 
positive  shape  before  their  child  is  born,  and  there  is  a 
very  prevalent  notion  that  such  prenatal  desires  and 
purposes,  on  the  part  of  parents,  have  a  highly  potent 
influence  on  determining  the  character  and  bent  of  mind 
of    their  children.      There   are  mothers,  in   untellable 

251 


252        ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

numbers,  who  have  dedicated  their  sons  to  the  ministry 
months  before  they  knew  whether  their  prospective 
offspring  was  to  be  a  boy  or  girl.  This  is  only  one  of 
thousands  of  similar  instances,  though  probably  the  most 
numerous  of  all  the  train,  for  reasons  that  I  cannot  go 
into  here.  Kings  and  queens  plan  for  and  speculate 
upon  the  character  and  career  of  a  prospective  heir  to 
the  throne  who  shall  come  from  their  loins,  and  beggars 
are  anxious  that  their  progeny  shall  be  more  expert  at 
winning  pennies  from  the  susceptible  than  they  them- 
selves have  been. 

And  so  multitudes  of  children  that  come  into  this 
world  are  handicapped,  from  the  day  of  their  birth,  by 
cut-and-dried  plans  for  their  future  development.  Par- 
ents have  notions  as  to  what  they  wish  their  children  to 
do,  or  to  become,  and  in  pursuance  of  these  notions 
they  gauge  their  actions  and  force  their  children  into 
ways  that  tally  with  what  they  wish  the  outcome  to  be. 

In  doing  this  they  seldom  have  any  regard  for  the 
way  their  children  are,  for  their  natural  aptitude  of 
mind,  and  for  the  possibilities  that  are  within  their 
reach.  With  their  hopes  and  their  baseless  faith  rooted 
in  the  popular  educational  ideas  that  I  have  noted  in 
previous  chapters,  namely,  that  any  child  can  be  or  do 
anything  that  its  parents  wish  it  to  be  or  to  do  (for  that 
is  practically  the  way  they  hold  the  matter  in  mind  — 
their  translation  of  such  educational  dogma),  they  pro- 
ceed to  try  to  fashion  the  child  according  to  their  pre- 
determined plans.  Sometimes  this  brings  results  that 
are  in  accordance  with  the  purpose  that  underlies  it. 
Occasionally  a  startling  tally  is  made  in  this  way.  But, 
for  the  most  part,  those  who  travel  this  road  have  a  time 
of  it. 


THE  PARENTAL  FACTOR  253 

And  this  leads  me  naturally  to  the  matter  of  heredity, 
concerning  which  I  have  space  for  only  a  word.  The 
honest  truth  is,  we  know  next  to  nothing  about  the 
transmission  of  traits  from  parents  to  offspring  in  the 
human  family.  We  know  that  it  is  common  for  children 
to  resemble  their  fathers  and  mothers  in  physical  ap- 
pearance, to  a  greater  or  less  extent.  There  are  usually 
"  family  features  "  that  are  not  hard  to  detect.  It  is  also 
true  that  there  are  some  mental  characteristics  that 
are  occasionally  to  be  noted  in  given  families,  sometimes 
for  several  successive  generations.  But  when  this  has 
been  said,  the  reliable  testimony  in  the  case  is  all  in. 
All  beyond  that  is  mere  guesswork,  and  cannot  be 
counted  on  in  the  least.     Such  are  the  facts. 

I  know  all  about  the  theories  in  the  premises ;  but 
you  and  I  know,  all  parents  know,  that,  so  far  as  our 
own  experience  goes,  these  theories  are  not  based  on 
facts.  It  is  the  universal  experience  that  counts;  and 
that  all  goes  to  show  that,  as  yet,  we  know  very  little 
about  breeding  as  it  pertains  to  the  human  family. 
We  have  it  down  to  quite  definite  lines  among  the  ani- 
mals below  us,  and  in  the  vegetable  kingdom  the  results 
obtainable  are  brought  within  the  limits  of  the  positively 
known.  Mr.  Darwin  has  shown  the  way  as  it  pertains 
to  the  first,  and  Mr.  Burbank  has  revealed  the  wonders 
regarding  what  can  be  done  in  the  second.  But  when 
it  comes  to  us  and  ours,  neither  of  these  authorities  can 
do  more  than  speculate.  You  and  I  can  do  that. 
Bernard  Shaw  summed  the  whole  matter  up  when  he 
wrote,  "  The  bubble  of  heredity  has  been  pricked." 

And  yet,  in  the  face  of  these  facts,  fathers  and 
mothers  will  continue  to  treat  their  children  in  accord- 
ance with  the  theories  that  their  experience  tells  them 


254       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

are  false,  rather  than  in  harmony  with  what  their  com- 
mon sense  shows  them  is  true.  They  will  persist  in 
trying  to  fashion  the  lives  and  characters  of  their 
offspring  along  the  lines  of  their  own  preconceived 
notions  (which  are  based  on  what  their  children  ought 
to  be,  according  to  the  theories  of  a  groundless  heredi- 
tary philosophy),  to  the  utter  neglect  of  what  they  know, 
in  their  inmost  souls,  their  children  ought  to  do.  Let 
me  note  a  concrete  case  which  will  clearly  illustrate  the 
point. 

I  know  a  man  who  is  a  fine  musician.  He  can  sing 
anything  he  can  see,  he  can  play  any  musical  instru- 
ment he  can  get  his  hands  on.  Now  it  would  be  sup- 
posed, according  to  the  theoretical  laws  of  heredity, 
that  this  man's  progeny  would  be  musically  strong. 
He  has  one  daughter,  and  she  can  hardly  tell  one  tone 
from  another.  And  there  you  are.  I'll  note  more  of 
this  case  farther  on,  but  this  much  of  it  is  all  I  care  for 
just  here. 

Nor  is  this  nearly  so  rare  a  case  as  some,  especially 
heredity  theorists,  would  have  us  think.  All  parents 
know  that  the  same  thing  is  true  with  their  own  chil- 
dren, to  a  greater  or  less  degree.  It  is  by  no  means 
music,  in  all  cases ;  but,  somewhere,  on  some  lines,  the 
children  will  be  found  to  vary  largely  from  their  pro- 
genitors ;  and  it  is  a  rare  thing  for  pronounced  qualities 
to  be  transmitted  from  parent  to  child.  And  yet  it  is 
almost  a  rule  that  parents  are  ambitious  to  have  their 
children  excel  along  lines  on  which  they  are  themselves 
particularly  strong. 

How  these  things  can  be,  why  these  variations  be- 
tween parents  and  children,  is  a  great  question  for 
which  no  wholly  satisfactory  answer  has  yet  been  found. 


THE  PARENTAL  FACTOR 


255 


There  are  many  guesses,  but  the  best  of  them  satisfy  at 
only  a  few  points.  The  Theosophists  come  as  near  as 
any  I  know  anything  about  in  answering  the  riddle,  but 
even  these  can  only  surmise,  and  hint  at  possibilities. 
They  tell  how  it  may  be,  and  some  of  the  things  they 
say  are  exceedingly  suggestive.  But  what  they  know . 
for  sure  is  like  all  the  rest,  —  nil ! 

So  the  first  point  to  be  gained  in  the  new  order  of 
things  is  for  parents  to  be  willing  to  see  their  children  as 
they  really  are,  to  fairly  measure  their  natural  aptitudes 
and  possibilities,  regardless  of  theories  as  to  what  they 
should  have  been  if  heredity  were  what  it  is  claimed  to 
be,  and  then  to  plan  for  the  future  of  their  offspring 
accordingly.  And  yet  these  are  the  things  that  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  get  done. 

To  revert  to  the  case  that  I  partly  told  of  a  few  para- 
graphs back.  This  father  thought  that  because  he  was 
musical  his  daughter  should  be.  And  when  he  found 
that  she  was  not,  that  fact  made  no  difference  in  the 
plans  he  laid  for  her  education,  nor  for  the  means  he 
undertook  to  carry  out  those  plans.  According  to  the 
educational  theories  he  had  been  reared  in  (the  common 
theories  of  his  time,  and  largely  of  "  this  present  now  "), 
he  could  make  a  fine  musician  out  of  his  child,  anyhow. 
She  was  an  exceedingly  bright  child,  and  her  mental 
capabilities  seemed  to  her  father  to  be  sufficient  to  make 
a  success  of  anything  she  might  undertake.  She  could 
read  at  three  years  of  age,  and  showed  mental  abilities 
far  beyond  the  average  child  from  her  earliest  infancy. 
With  this  equipment,  the  father  felt  sure  he  could  realize 
his  heart's  desire  regarding  his  daughter,  and  he  pro- 
ceeded to  work  out  his  plans  accordingly. 

He  bought  the  best  piano  that  could  be  had,  and  he 


256       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

procured  the  best  teacher  that  money  could  hire.  And 
he  put  the  piano,  the  teacher,  and  the  girl  together,  and 
kept  them  together  for  months  and  years.  And  the 
girl  tried  her  best  to  do  what  her  father  wanted  her  to 
do,  to  be  what  he  was  ambitious  she  should  become  —  a 
good  musician. 

But  it  was  all  of  no  avail.  After  weary  years  of  prac- 
tice, and  the  hardest  kind  of  work  at  the  piano,  she  and 
all  gave  it  up.  To  be  sure,  she  got  so  that  she  could 
make  her  fingers  go  over  the  keyboard  as  the  score  on 
the  rack  said  they  should  go.  But  that  doesn't  make 
music.  And  in  time  her  father  came  to  realize  that  it 
did  not  (though  it  nearly  broke  his  heart  to  acknowledge 
the  fact),  and  he  gave  her  a  respite  from  what  had 
always  been  a  dreary  and  senseless  task  for  all  parties 
concerned,  not  to  say  a  bore  to  most  of  them.  The 
only  possible  exceptions  were  the  man  who  sold  the 
piano  and  the  teacher  who  got  the  money  for  his 
lessons ! 

The  girl  is  a  woman  now,  and  she  never  touches  the 
piano.  You  couldn't  hire  her  to  do  so.  She  can't 
play ;  and,  thank  God,  she  knows  she  can't  play  !  But 
she  is  not  a  dull  woman,  for  all  that.  She  can  paint 
divinely !  All  the  time  that  she  was  struggling  with 
the  piano  that  she  could  do  nothing  with,  she  was 
begging  to  be  allowed  to  use  her  brush  and  pencil. 
She  made  pictures  in  her  books,  and  covered  the  blank 
spaces  on  her  sheet  music  with  drawings  of  all  sorts  of 
things.  But  for  all  this  she  was  reprimanded  and  called 
down.  Forsooth,  her  father  was  no  artist  in  color,  and 
why  should  his  daughter  be  ?  He  could  do  nothing  in 
that  line,  and  why  should  she  wish  to  }  Let  her  be  a 
musician!     If  she   would  try   hard  enough,  and   long 


THE  PARENTAL  FACTOR  257 

enough,  she  surely  could  be.  He  had  done  these 
things  successfully,  and  with  little  effort,  and  he  was 
her  father ;  and  why  should  not  child  do  what  father 
did  so  readily  —  what  he  so  much  loved  to  do  ? 

There  was  just  one  good  reason.  She  was  "  born 
short"  on  music  and  "born  long"  on  color  and  form. 
It  was  not  in  her  to  be  an  artist  in  tone.  It  was  in  her 
to  be  an  artist  in  color.  Color  was  God's  way  for  the 
girl ;  tone  was  the  father's  way.  It  is  God's  way  that 
wins,  give  it  time,  if  we  do  not  kill  our  children  trying 
to  make  them  go  as  we  wish,  whether  or  not !  And 
many  children  are  killed  by  such  treatment. 

This  case  is  no  rarer  in  its  second  stage  than  its  first. 
And  others  like  it  are  on  every  hand,  whichever  way 
we  turn.  You  know  them,  I  know  them ;  they  are 
everywhere.  There  are  few  families  that  are  exempt 
or  immune  from  some  form  of  the  trouble,  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent. 

And  what  shall  we  do  about  it.? 

This:  we  shall  first  be  willing  to  acknowledge  the 
facts  in  the  case,  to  make  an  honest  estimate  of  the  way 
our  children  are,  regardless  of  notions  as  to  what  they 
should  have  been,  theoretically.  Then  we  shall  plan 
for  each  child  according  to  the  indications  revealed  by 
these  facts,  and  be  satisfied  to  work  the  case  out  that 
way. 

Yet  this  is  a  very  hard  thing  for  parents  to  do.  We 
are  all  so  anxious  to  have  our  children  conform  to  the 
ways  of  other  children ;  or  do  as  society,  or  fashion,  or 
custom,  or  tradition  suggest  or  demand.  How  often 
have  we  all  heard  mothers  say :  "  My  child  is  just  as 
smart  as  my  neighbor's  child,  and  what  one  can  do  the 
other  can  do!"  This  trouble  crops  out  so  frequently 
s 


258        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

in  the  work  done  in  graded  schools,  and  is  a  measure- 
less source  of  annoyance  to  teachers  of  the  rank  and 
file.  All  sorts  of  jealousies  between  pupils  and  of 
quarrels  among  parents  arise  from  this  source.  Be- 
cause of  it  teachers  are  accused  of  partiality  and  of 
other  high  crimes  and  misdemeanors.  In  fact  it  is  the 
black  beast  of  nearly  all  schoolrooms ;  and  the  basis  of 
the  trouble  lies,  almost  altogether,  with  the  parents,  who 
insist  that  their  child,  or  children,  shall  do  just  what 
some  other  child  or  children  have  done,  or  are  doing, 
regardless  of  the  natural  capabilities  and  aptitudes  of 
their  own  offspring. 

Parents  who  read  these  lines,  will  you  ponder  on  their 
application  to  your  own  case,  and  to  that  of  your  own 
children  .-• 

This  comparison  of  our  children  with  others,  and 
wishing  ours  to  do  what  others  do,  and  as  well  or  better 
than  others  do,  often  works  injustice  to  the  children. 
In  a  word,  it  is  because  of  our  desire  to  fashion  our 
children  according  to  the  influences  from  without  their 
lives,  rather  than  from  the  God-born  impulses  and 
powers  that  are  within  them,  that  we  go  wrong  and 
make  them  go  wrong. 

I  know  a  boy  from  a  fine  family  who  had  an  inborn 
desire  to  be  a  barber.  Strange,  perhaps,  that  this  should 
be  so,  but  so  it  was.  His  parents  were  chagrined  beyond 
measure  at  the  fact,  and  they  tried  to  make  a  professional 
man  of  him.  But  it  was  a  lamentable  failure.  And  he 
is  now  a  successful  barber.  And  why  not.''  He  was 
ashamed  of  himself,  and  of  the  work  he  tried  to  do  as  a 
professional  man,  and  he  had  full  cause  to  be.  He  is 
proud  of  his  work  at  the  chair ;  he  has  a  fine  patronage, 
and  his  customers  believe  in  him.     I  have  no  doubt  he 


THE  PARENTAL  FACTOR  259 

and  his  well-done  work  will  tally  all  right  at  Judgment 
Day ;  and  is  not  that  the  main  thing,  after  all  ? 

But  we  don't  want  our  children  to  be  barbers,  and 
blacksmiths,  and  such  like.  We  want  them  to  "  wear  a 
gold  watch  chain,  and  sit  on  a  high  stool,"  regardless  of 
whether  they  have  aptitude  for  that  sort  of  thing  or  not. 
There  is  right  where  the  whole  trouble  lies.  In  this 
matter  we  consider  the  conventional,  the  proper,  Mrs. 
Grundy,  the  neighbors,  our  own  notions,  and  nearly 
everything  else  that  ought  not  to  count  for  a  pin's  fee, 
before  we  ask  the  question,  what  are  the  natural  capa- 
bilities and  aptitudes  of  the  child  ?  And,  for  the  most 
part,  we  prefer  to  try  to  make  a  poor  professional,  rather 
than  a  first-class  mechanic  or  laborer  of  any  kind,  out  of 
a  child  of  ours.     That  is  history. 

Now,  as  I  have  said  before,  I  do  not  pretend  that  it 
is  possible,  early  in  life,  to  tell  just  exactly  what  each 
and  every  child  had  best  do  for  a  living  when  he  is 
grown.  But  I  do  insist  that  in  very  many  cases  it  is 
perfectly  clear,  often  quite  clear  in  early  life,  what  he 
should  not  do,  or  try  to  do,  and  that  is  something.  The 
musical  father  I  have  spoken  of  should  have  seen,  years 
before  he  did,  that  it  was  folly  —  not  to  say  cruelty  —  to 
keep  his  daughter  at  work  at  the  piano.  I  honestly  be- 
lieve he  knew  this  all  the  time.  He  used  to  try  to  seem 
pleased  over  his  daughter's  playing,  but  there  was  no 
real  pleasure  for  him  in  her  performance.  What  he 
said  and  did  was  only  to  encourage  her,  and  to  buoy  up 
his  own  hopes.  If  any  one  but  his  daughter  had  played 
as  she  did,  —  at  her  best,  —  he  would  have  left  the  room. 
And  yet  he  kept  the  girl  at  it. 

How  is  it  at  your  house,  teacher,  parent,  or  whosoever 
of  you  is  trying  to  educate  — yourself  or  some  one  else  ? 


26o       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

I  do  not  underestimate  the  value  of  tackling  difficult 
tasks,  and  of  putting  in  hard,  and  perhaps  disagreeable, 
work  in  mastering  them.  All  these  things  have  their 
place  as  educative  forces.  But  what  I  do  protest 
against  is  forcing  children  to  continue  to  labor  at  tasks 
from  which  they  can  never  produce  anything  that  they 
can  be  proud  of,  or  even  be  decently  satisfied  with. 
That  is  what  crushes  the  soul.  The  girl  I  have  spoken 
of  was  always  ashamed  of  her  piano  playing.  The  boy 
who  cuts  hair  is  always  proud  of  his  work.  There  can 
be  no  question  as  to  which  is  best  for  the  soul. 

And  so  I  would  say  to  parents :  study  your  children, 
and  in  consultation  with  them  and  their  teachers  do  your 
best  to  set  their  feet  in  ways  that  lead  to  soul-satisfaction 
regarding  what  they  do  in  life;  knowing  that  it  is  not 
what  they  do,  but  how  they  do  it,  that  counts,  and  that 
will  count  forever ;  that  "  there  is  no  trade  but  that  he 
who  pursues  it  may  be  a  hero,"  and  that  a  successful 
worker  in  the  humblest  of  callings  can  call  God  to  his 
witness,  and  with  pride  in  his  heart  can  say,  "  My  Father, 
see  what  I  have  done!  "  But,  parent,  whoever  you  are, 
if  your  child  is  a  botch,  both  you  and  he  will  be  put  to 
shame  for  ever  and  ever,  so  long  as  the  botching  is  con- 
tinued. No  forgiveness,  no  atonement,  can  ever  make 
such  a  wrong  right.  And  the  issue  is,  will  we,  as  parents 
and  teachers,  keep  on  making  our  children  go  wrong  ? 
There  is  room  for  each  one  of  all  the  children  of  all  the 
people  to  go  right,  educationally.  It  is  the  fault  of 
teachers,  and  especially  of  parents,  if  they  do  not  go  that 
way. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

CONCERNING   INSTITUTIONS 

Collective  Treatment  of  Specially  Deficient  Children  who  find  no 
Place  in  the  Public  Schools  —  Some  Public  School  Efforts  to 
solve  this  Problem  —  What  is  done  in  New  York  —  In  St.  Louis 
—  Private  and  State  "Institutions"  for  Defectives  —  Abnormality 
of  Institutional  Life  —  Testimony  of  Superintendent  of  Institution 
for  the  Blind  —  Paul  Binner  and  Milwaukee  Schools  —  Eau  Claire, 
Wisconsin's,  Record  —  Politics  and  "  Asylums  "  —  Statement  of 
what  such  Methods  have  sometimes  resulted  in — Concrete  In- 
stance cited  —  Political  Influence  must  be  eliminated  from  all 
"  Charitable "  Institutions  —  What  may  Some  Day  be. 

There  is  a  percentage  of  our  children  who,  as  things 
are,  cannot  attend  our  public  schools  at  all,  namely,  the 
"shorts"  who  are  so  wanting  on  some  lines  as  to  unfit 
them  for  doing  any  of  the  work  now  provided  in  these 
schools  —  the  blind,  deaf  and  dumb,  and  the  idiotic. 
These  are,  each  according  to  their  own  kind,  now  very 
largely  massed  together  in  "  institutions "  which  have 
been  specially  organized  for  their  accommodation. 
These  institutions  are  in  evidence  in  every  state  in  the 
Union  —  they  are  a  part  of  our  present  plan  for  educat- 
ing all  the  children  of  all  the  people ;  and,  as  such,  they 
must  be  considered  in  these  pages. 

Now  please  do  not  think  that  I  am  hostile  to  these 
special  schools  for  peculiar  children,  or  that  I  accuse 
the  managers  and  teachers  in  such  institutions  of  mis- 
representation regarding  their  work  and  the  possibilities 
of  children  committed  to  their  care,  because  of  what  I 

261 


262        ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

have  said  in  a  previous  chapter,  I  have  neither  the 
purpose  nor  the  desire  to  do  any  such  thing.  Many 
such  schools  do  the  very  best  possible  for  such  children. 
The  best  of  them  often  give  these  pupils  a  chance  to 
move  out  on  their  "long"  sides;  and,  gaining  courage 
and  strength  from  such  natural  exercise  of  what  facul- 
ties they  have  that  they  can  control  and  use,  such  chil- 
dren sometimes  gain  courage  and  strength  in  other 
directions ;  and  this  results  for  their  well-being  and  ad- 
vancement, to  some  degree,  on  their  sadly  short  sides. 
All  of  which  is  well. 

None  the  less,  the  fact  remains  that  few  children 
who  are  really  powerless  in  one  direction,  or  in  many 
directions  —  few  of  these  ever  make  very  much  prog- 
ress along  their  congenital  short  lines,  in  any  school, 
special  or  public.  And  when  the  fact  of  such  genuine 
shortage  is  fully  established,  it  is  bad  practice  to  try  to 
force  the  child  to  normality  where  he  is  thus  handi- 
capped. To  do  so  is  to  use  him  unfairly,  his  equipment 
being  taken  into  the  account.  It  will  discourage  him, 
make  him  distrustful  of  himself  among  normal  children, 
and  work  harm  to  him  in  a  multitude  of  ways.  Rather 
such  children  should  be  so  directed  that  they  will  move 
out  strongly  along  the  lines  of  what  natural  abilities 
they  may  have  and  so  gain  a  self-confidence,  at  least  in 
some  directions,  that  will  lead  them  not  to  be  afraid,  or 
ashamed  of  themselves  when  among  other  children. 

On  this  count,  so  reliable  an  authority  as  Henry  H. 
Goddard,  Ph.D.,  of  Vineland,  N.J.,  has  recently  written, 
"  It  is  particularly  true  of  those  high-grade  cases  which 
are  not  often  recognized,  save  by  an  expert,  and  who 
look  so  much  like  normal  children  that  it  is  a  tempta- 
tion to  waste  a  great  deal  of  time  upon  them  in  trying 


CONCERNING  INSTITUTIONS  263 

to  make  them  develop  along  normal  lines  and  do  those 
things  for  which  they  have  not  the  brain  or  mind.  As 
things  are  now,  we  generally  keep  on  year  after  year 
in  our  endeavor  to  train  these  children,  and  only  after 
their  school  work  is  passed  do  we  discover  that  it  was 
not  possible  for  them  to  learn  what  we  were  trying  to 
teach  them.  Then  we  know  that,  had  we  taught  them 
the  things  they  could  do,  we  might  have  trained  them 
to  partial  usefulness.  But  what  is  readily  seen  to  be 
true  in  these  extreme  cases  is  equally  true  in  principle  of 
all  children.  .  .  ." 

The  italics  are  mine,  but  the  words  need  to  be  em- 
phasized, coming  from  the  source  that  produced  them. 
They  point  out  the  futility  of  trying  to  develop,  in  any 
or  all  children,  faculties  and  abilities  which,  on  certain 
lines,  do  not  exist  in  these  particular  children.  And 
that  this  author  should  state  that  such  conditions  are 
"equally  true  in  principle  of  all  children"  is  worthy  of 
special  notice  and  attention. 

So  we  may  say  that  if  a  child  is  born  blind  he  may 
perhaps  be  brought  to  see.  If  the  organs  of  vision  are 
but  partially  bad,  there  is  a  possibiUty  that  they  may 
be  put  right.  But  if  a  child  is  born  practically  without 
eyes,  he  can  never  see,  and  we  might  as  well  settle  down 
to  that  conclusion  one  time  as  another;  and  especially, 
not  trouble  the  child  trying  to  make  him  see  when  he 
has  nothing  to  see  with.     That  is  the  point. 

Of  course  we  do  so  conclude  in  such  a  case  of  blind- 
ness. But  how  bad  it  would  be  to  put  blind  children 
into  competition  with  children  with  good  eyes,  and  then 
scold  them,  or  punish  them,  or  mark  them  down,  or 
degrade  and  disgrace  them  because  they  could  not  do 
as  the  good-ieyed  children  do !     This  is  what  we  should 


264       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

be  careful  not  to  do.  And  yet  something  like  this  is 
done,  almost  by  the  wholesale,  with  children  in  our 
public  schools  who  are  as  powerless  to  do  the  things 
required  of  them  as  an  eyeless  child  is  powerless  to  see  ! 

Now,  because  of  this  fact,  multitudes  of  children  who 
are  "  born  short "  here  or  there,  and  so  cannot  do  some 
of  the  work  required  of  them  in  our  public  schools  — 
work  which  normal  children  can  do  easily  enough,  but 
which  all  children  are  compelled  to  do  if  they  stay  in 
their  grades  —  because  of  these  things,  many  such  chil- 
dren are  dropped  out  of  these  schools  altogether.  Little 
or  no  provision  is  made  for  their  peculiarities,  for  the 
way  they  are,  and  so  they  find  small  place  in  our  public 
schoolrooms.  They  are  of  all  degrees  of  shortness. 
Sometimes  they  vary  so  little  from  normality  that  we 
keep  them  in  school  for  a  while,  occasionally  for  a 
number  of  years.  But  for  the  most  part  they  drop 
back  and  back  in  the  grades,  always  on  the  lines  of 
their  shortage.  Frequently  they  are  more  than  fairly 
bright  in  other  ways,  but  this  rarely  counts.  I  know  it 
does  in  some  schools,  but  not  in  many.  As  a  rule, 
they  drop  back  if  they  cannot  "pass  examination," 
and  they  rarely  can  pass  examination  in  subjects  on 
which  they  are  "  born  short." 

So  they  drop  back  and  back,  till,  finally,  they  get  dis- 
couraged and  drop  out  of  school  altogether.  We  all 
know  how  it  is.  The  100,000  children  in  New  York 
City  who  are  behind  in  their  grades,  as  the  school 
reports  of  that  city  tell  us  they  are,  are  examples,  each 
to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  of  this  sort  of  thing.  They 
haven't  dropped  out  entirely  yet ;  but,  for  the  most  part, 
it  is  only  a  matter  of  time  when  they  will  do  so,  under 
generally  practiced  methods.      Not  one  in  a  hundred, 


CONCERNING  INSTITUTIONS  265 

I  doubt  if  one  in  five  hundred,  of  these  children  will  ever 
stay  in  these  schools  long  enough  to  graduate,  under  the 
present  regime. 

Since  I  wrote  the  above  paragraph,  I  have  spent  some 
days  in  visiting  the  schools  of  New  York  City,  and  I 
am  glad  to  say  that  I  found,  in  several  of  them,  "  Odds 
and  Ends  "  rooms,  as  it  were,  where  these  "  born  short" 
children,  of  various  sorts  and  conditions,  receive  the 
special  instruction  their  individual  needs  demand.  In 
some  of  these  rooms  I  saw  some  of  the  best  pedagogi- 
cal work  it  has  been  my  fortune  to  witness.  It  is  well. 
Let  the  good  work  go  on.  And  it  is  going  on ;  for,  in 
some  of  the  best  public  schools,  all  over  the  country, 
this  plan  of  having  special  instruction  for  "  short "  pupils 
has  been  already  inaugurated. 

The  city  of  St.  Louis  has  recently  begun  to  make 
special  provision  for  its  "  short "  children  by  establishing 
special  schools  for  them  in  different  parts  of  the  city. 
These  schools  are  under  the  immediate  supervision  of 
Superintendent  George  Piatt  Knox,  who  has  specially 
selected  a  corps  of  teachers  for  this  work.  There  is  no 
attempt  made  in  these  schools  to  bunch  together,  so  to 
speak,  numbers  of  children  who  have  similar  "shortages," 
but  the  aim  has  been  to  locate  the  schools  so  that  they 
will  reach  the  largest  number  of  children  in  a  given 
district  who  are  so  "  short,"  in  any  way,  that  they  can- 
not keep  their  places  in  the  grades.  I  cannot  give 
details  of  the  work  done,  as  I  should  like  to  do,  for  lack 
of  space,  but  I  commend  the  plan  St.  Louis  is  working 
out  as  one  of  the  best  I  have  ever  seen  in  operation. 
There  are  other  cities  where  similar  work  is  being  done, 
and  I  wish  them  all  God  speed. 

(I  should  like  to  add,  just  here,  that  it  seems  to  me 


266        ALL  THE  CfflLDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

the  efforts  now  making  to  do  the  best  possible  for  these 
"  short "  children  are  not  as  well  directed  as  they  will 
some  day  be.  As  things  now  are,  the  special  work  ex- 
pended upon  these  children  is  intended  to  put  them  into 
such  a  condition  that  they  can  take  up  the  regular  work 
in  the  grades,  which  they  have  been  unable  to  "  carry," 
That  is,  an  attempt  is  made  to  make  their  "shortages" 
come  up  to  a  fixed  standard,  and  then  to  have  them  go 
on  with  their  work  just  as  though  they  were  normal 
pupils.  My  impression  is  that  time  will  show  that  such 
a  method  is  a  mistake.  It  is  not  in  harmony  with  the 
ultimate  facts  in  these  cases,  as  has  been  so  well  stated 
by  Professor  Goddard  in  the  paragraph  I  quoted  from 
him  a  few  lines  back.  The  truth  is  that,  where  pupils 
are  so  "  short "  on  certain  lines  that  they  have  to  have 
"  special  treatment,"  it  is  practically  useless  to  try  to 
bring  them  to  normality  on  these  lines.  By  far  the 
better  thing  to  do,  as  Professor  Goddard  wisely  sug- 
gests, is  to  help  such  pupils  move  out  strongly  where 
they  can,  and  in  this  way  it  is  not  impossible  that 
they  may,  by  the  impulse  thus  given,  improve  on  their 
*'  short "  or  weak  places.  The  principle  to  be  kept  in 
mind  is  to  do  the  best  we  can  for  these  pupils  on  the 
plane  of  their  inabilities,  and  to  let  that  part  of  the 
work  go  at  that.  Meantime,  we  will  keep  on  the  look- 
out for  any  signs  of  improvement  on  these  weak  places, 
and  if  there  are  evidences  of  better  conditions,  make 
the  most  of  them. 

These  cases  can  often  be  handled  successfully  by 
having  such  pupils  recite  in  two  or  more  grades  in 
school.  Thus,  if  a  pupil  is  "  short "  in  mathematics, 
such  pupil  may  recite  in  a  lower  grade,  where  simpler 
work  is  done  in  this  branch,  and  go  on  with  his  class  in 


CONCERNING  INSTITUTIONS  267 

work  which  he  is  able  to  carry.  Such  accommodations 
of  pupils  in  different  grades  can  readily  be  arranged  for, 
if  only  there  is  a  will  to  do  it  on  the  part  of  the  teachers 
and  the  principal.  And  it  is  a  most  excellent  way  to 
try. 

This  mixing  of  grades  will  not  destroy  anything  of 
real  value  in  the  schools.  The  miUtary  uniformity  is 
all  that  will  have  to  suffer.  It  will  make  some  extra 
work,  to  be  sure,  but  the  results  will  pay  for  all  that. 
It  is  only  another  way  of  fitting  the  schools  to  the  needs 
of  the  children,  instead  of  forcing  the  children  to  fit  the 
schools,  or  to  drop  out  if  they  cannot  conform.) 

But,  whatever  efforts  are  now  making  or  are  to  be 
made  to  help  out  large  numbers  of  children  who  are 
partially  "short,"  as  it  were,  there  still  remain  many 
children  who  are  ve7y  short  —  the  blind,  the  deaf  and 
dumb,  and  the  idiotic  —  and  for  these  we  make  so  little 
provision  in  our  public  schools  that  they,  as  a  rule,  are 
out  from  the  start.  Few  of  the  blind  and  of  the  deaf 
and  dumb  ever  enter  these  schools  at  all.  Many  who 
are  idiotic,  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  start  in  at  these 
schools,  go  for  a  little  while,  and  then  are  dropped  out. 

And  these  latter,  the  blind,  the  deaf  and  dumb,  and 
the  idiotic,  who  are  short  in  so  many  ways  that  the 
course  of  study  in  the  graded  schools  in  no  way  meets 
their  needs  —  these  are  gathered  together,  in  large  num- 
bers, because  there  is  no  place  for  them  in  the  public 
schools,  and  sent  to  special  institutions,  there  to  be  cared 
for  and  educated  where  their  shortages  can  be  taken 
into  account.  This  is  the  common  practice  in  this 
country  at  present.  It  is  backed  by  the  best  and  most 
humane  of  motives.  Private  generosity  and  state  assist- 
ance have  vied  with  each  other  to  make  provision  for 


268        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

these  unfortunates,  and  institutions  devoted  to  such  work 
are  to  be  found  on  every  hand. 

And  yet  — 

Have  you  ever  visited  any  of  these  institutions  ?  If 
you  have  not  done  so,  I  wish  you  would,  the  first 
chance  you  get,  especially  if  you  are  a  teacher.  For  I 
assure  you,  you  would  find  much  therein  to  make 
you  think  many  things.  At  least,  I  assure  you  that  I 
thought  many  things  when  one  of  the  best  superintend- 
ents of  a  state  institution  for  the  blind  in  this  country 
said  to  me,  with  tears  in  his  eyes :  "  After  an  experience 
of  eight  years  as  the  head  of  this  institution,  I  say  to 
you,  frankly,  that  I  really  fear  we  do  these  children 
more  harm  than  good ! "  Is  not  a  remark  like  that, 
made  by  a  man  of  the  rarest  ability  in  his  profession, 
and  who  has  had  eight  years'  experience  in  his  work, 
and  who  has  had  charge  of  thousands  of  blind  children 
during  that  time  —  is  not  that  something  to  think  about, 
in  this  matter  of  the  education  of  all  the  children  of  all 
the  people.? 

And  then  he  went  on  to  explain  the  reason  for  his 
doubts.  He  said  that,  while  they  did  a  great  deal  for 
these  children,  in  many  ways,  in  the  institution  he  had 
charge  of,  yet  the  fact  that  they  had  so  many  of  them 
together,  and  that,  for  so  many  years  (the  formative 
years  of  each  child's  life)  they  were  forced  to  keep  the 
children  in  such  unnatural  surroundings  on  the  social 
.and  domestic  sides  of  life  —  that,  for  these  reasons,  the 
total  result  was  of  very  doubtful  quality. 

"  What  we  have  here,"  he  said,  "  is  virtually  a  great 
big  hotel.  And  the  life  these  children  lead  is,  practi- 
cally, a  hotel  life.  We  care  for  them  in  every  possible 
way."     (The  institution  was  a  model  of  cleanliness  and 


CONCERNING  INSTITUTIONS  269 

the  most  scrupulous  care,  from  top  to  bottom,  within 
and  without.)  "  But,"  he  went  on,  "  that  is  not  what 
such  children  need.  What  they  require  is  to  be  taught 
to  care  for  themselves,  and  so  become  able  to  support 
themselves.  And  that  we  have  small  means  for  teach- 
ing them,  in  an  institution  like  this.  We  do  what  we 
can  to  teach  them  to  work,  but  the  range  we  can  offer 
them  in  that  direction  is  very  limited.  The  result  is 
that,  for  the  most  part,  the  children  sit  around  and 
visit,  and  play  with  one  another,  and  have  just  as  good  a 
time  as  we  can  give  them  while  they  are  here.  We 
have  them  go  to  school,  and  do  the  regular  school  work 
as  far  as  possible.  But,  outside  of  that,  we  do  not  do 
very  much  for  them.  The  result  is  that  when  they  leave 
this  institution  and  go  home  they  are  so  lonesome  that 
many  of  them  pine  away  and  die  in  a  very  short  time ! " 
That  is  what  he  said ! 

And  his  idea  was,  further,  that  the  proper  place  for 
these  children  to  grow  up  is  in  the  homes  where  they 
were  born,  and  among  people  and  surroundings  that 
they  will  have  to  live  with  when  they  are  grown ;  that 
they  should  be  educated  with  other  children,  in  our  pub- 
lic schools,  so  that  their  childhood  friends  and  acquaint- 
ances should  become  the  friends  and  acquaintances  of 
their  mature  years,  and  that  the  environments  of  their 
youth  should  be  those  of  their  manhood  and  their 
womanhood.  That  may  seem  to  be  only  a  dream,  but 
there  are  schools  in  this  country  that  are  making  the 
dream  true  as  I  write. 

I  do  not  know  how  many  such  schools  there  are.  I 
do  know,  though,  that  in  the  days  of  the  late  Paul 
Binner,  of  blessed  memory,  I  saw  deaf-and-dumb  boys 
and  girls  doing  regular  work  in  the  Milwaukee,  Wiscon- 


270       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

sin,  high  schools.  These  children  had  been  educated 
in  public  graded  schools  in  that  city,  where  special  at- 
tention was  given  to  them  because  of  their  infirmities. 
In  that  city,  children  of  like  affliction  were  classed  to- 
gether in  separate  rooms  and  there  taught  by  special 
teachers  in  their  grade  work.  They  had  been  taught 
to  "  read  the  lips  "  and  by  the  time  they  were  of  the 
proper  age  to  enter  the  high  school  they  were  ready  to 
go  into  regular  high  schools  of  the  city,  and  do  work 
there  such  as  other  children  were  doing. 

In  the  city  of  Eau  Claire,  in  the  same  state,  I  saw 
"  mute  "  children  in  a  ward  school,  with  the  rank  and  file 
of  the  children  of  that  municipality,  and  all  doing  well. 

In  the  high  schools  mentioned  in  Milwaukee,  the 
pupils  were  in  the  regular  classes,  where  some  special, 
yet  really  minor,  privileges  were  allowed  them  because 
of  their  shortage.  But  they  could  all  "  talk,  and  read 
lips,"  thanks  to  Mr.  Binner's  faithful  teaching,  and  they 
seemed  to  be  doing  well. 

In  Eau  Claire,  these  peculiar  "  shorts,"  which  were  in 
a  ward  school,  sat  in  a  room  by  themselves  and  had 
special  teachers ;  but  they  played  with  the  rest  of  the 
children  at  noons  and  recesses,  went  to  and  from  school 
with  them,  and  they  lived  in  their  own  homes,  with  their 
own  people.  One  of  their  teachers  told  me  that  she 
took  special  pains  to  have  the  parents  of  these  pupils  do 
what  ought  to  be  done  for  them  in  their  homes  —  to 
train  them  to  do  as  much  as  possible  for  themselves, 
things  being  as  they  were.  In  this  way  these  children 
seemed  to  be  growing  up  in  a  way  that  promised  far 
better  results  than  would  be  likely  to  come  from  the  ex- 
periences and  habits  acquired  from  years  spent  in  hotel 
life  in  an  institution. 


CONCERNING  INSTITUTIONS  27 1 

As  this  book  goes  to  press,  I  learn  that  New  York 
City  and  St.  Paul,  Minn.,  have  begun  to  provide  for 
their  specially  "  short "  children  in  their  public  schools. 
I  am  sure  there  are  other  cities  which  are  doing  this 
same  sort  of  work.  I  hope  there  may  be  many  of  them. 
My  reason  for  mentioning  the  cities  I  have  referred  to 
is  because  I  happen  to  know  about  them,  and  of  the 
excellent  work  they  are  doing.  It  is  surely  work  in  the 
right  direction,  and  it  will  grow  and  increase  as  we 
come  to  modify  our  public  schools  and  adapt  them  to 
the  needs  of  all  the  children  of  all  the  people. 

And  that  is  what  we  shall  do,  "  some  day,  some  time." 
Of  course,  it  will  cost  something  to  do  this  way,  but  we 
need  not  worry  about  that.  For  when  have  the  Ameri- 
can people  ever  shrunk  from  the  establishment  of  edu- 
cational ways  and  means,  when  they  believed  them  to  be 
for  the  common  good  ? 

But,  of  course,  for  many  years  yet  we  shall  keep  most 
of  these  children  in  institutions,  as  we  are  now  doing. 
That  method  is  now  to  the  fore,  and  must  have  its  way 
for  a  time.  But  that  it  will  also  have  its  day  admits 
of  small  doubt.  Its  ways  are  not  without  virtues,  but 
there  are  faults  that  must  be  corrected ;  and  when  these 
are  plucked  out,  the  probabilities  are  that  the  institutions 
will  pass  with  them.  It  will  not  be  an  immediate  at- 
tainment, but  it  will  come,  as  we  learn  how  to  care  for 
these  "  little  ones  "  in  the  best  way. 

Meantime,  let  it  be  said  that  the  management  of  these 
institutions  for  those  who  are  "  born  short,"  or  who  are 
warped  from  normality  by  disease  or  misfortune  —  the 
"  asylums  "  for  the  blind,  the  deaf  and  dumb,  the  idi- 
otic, the  insane,  and  the  criminal  —  that  all  these  insti- 
tutions which  are  managed  by  the  state  must  one  day  be 


272        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

placed  beyond  political  control !  The  necessity  for  this 
is  pronouncedly  apparent  to  all  who  are  in  any  way 
familiar  with  the  facts,  as  they  exist  in  a  large  number 
of  cases.  Some  states  there  are  that  have  already  ar- 
rived at  this  condition,  but  the  general  practice  is  still 
otherwise.  But  if  the  rank  and  file  of  our  people  could 
only  know  of  the  evils  that  the  political  control  of  such 
institutions  inflicts  on  multitudes  of  those  who  ought  not 
to  be  compelled  to  suffer  one  extra  pang  —  if  they  could 
be  made  to  realize  this,  they  would  sweep  the  system 
away  at  a  single  blow. 

I  once  knew  a  case  where  the  governor  of  a  state 
sent  word  to  the  superintendent  of  one  of  these  institu- 
tions to  make  a  place  for  two  of  his  nieces  as  teachers 
in  the  school.  Neither  of  the  young  ladies  had  ever 
had  a  particle  of  training  for  the  special  work  that  such 
teachers  had  to  do.  Worse  than  that,  they  both  hated 
the  work,  and  only  did  it  because  they  were  poor !  I 
saw  their  wretched  attempts  in  their  schoolrooms,  and 
when  I  asked  the  superintendent  why  he  permitted  such 
teachers  to  remain  in  the  institution,  he  told  me  who 
they  were,  and  how  they  came  to  be  where  they  were. 
"And  if  I  dismiss  them,  I  lose  my  place,"  he  added! 

In  a  state  institution  for  the  idiotic,  whose  manage- 
ment had  recently  been  changed  to  pay  a  political  debt, 
I  once  saw  three  children  strapped  to  their  beds  and 
left  alone  in  a  locked  room  for  hours !  In  the  corner 
of  this  same  room  a  poor  paralyzed  idiotic  boy  sat, 
strapped  fast  in  a  chair !  He  could  move  neither  hand 
nor  foot ;  and,  it  being  a  hot  midsummer  day  and  the 
windows  of  the  room  unscreened,  the  flies  were  all  over 
his  face  and  hands,  and  he  could  not  brush  them  away ! 
As  the  door  opened  and  I  came  into  the  room,  the  little 


CONCERNING  INSTITUTIONS  273 

fellow  turned  his  eyes  towards  me  and  called  out 
"mama"  in  a  voice  that  would  break  your  heart!  It 
was  the  only  word  he  could  speak ;  and,  oh,  the  pathos 
of  it,  as  he  uttered  it ! 

Before  we  entered  this  room,  the  matron,  who  was 
showing  me  through  the  building,  said,  "  I  guess  we 
had  better  not  go  in  there,"  and  she  turned  toward 
another  door. 

And  I  said,  "  Why  not  ? " 

"  Because,"  she  replied,  "  that  is  the  worst  hole  in  the 
house !  " 

And  I  said,  "  Oh,  don't  call  it  a  hole !  " 

Whereupon  she  responded,  "  If  you  should  see  it, 
you  couldn't  call  it  anything  else  !"  ' 

And  I  said,  "  I  want  to  see  it ! " 

Then  she  unlocked  the  door,  and  I  saw  what  I  have 
just  told  about. 

As  the  Httle  boy  in  the  corner  cried  "  mama,"  the 
poor  woman  who  was  my  pilot  broke  down  completely, 
and  said,  "  Oh,  Mr.  Smith,  I  don't  know  that  God  will 
ever  forgive  me  for  what  I  am  doing  here  !  It  is  ter- 
rible, terrible  !  "  And  she  sank  down  upon  the  edge  of 
one  of  the  beds,  dropped  her  head  on  her  arms,  and 
cried  in  despair. 

And  I  said,  "  What  makes  you  do  it,  then  .? " 

"  Because,"  she  replied,  "  I  don't  know  how  to  do 
any  better !  I  have  never  had  any  experience  in  such 
work.  I  am  doing  the  best  I  know  how,  but  I  don't 
know  what  to  do  ! " 

She  then  went  on  to  explain  that  her  son-in-law,  who 
had  been  a  country  doctor  and  a  local  politician  of  con- 
siderable prestige,  had  recently  been  appointed  by  the 
new   governor    as   superintendent    of    the  institution ; 


274       ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

that  he  had  made  her  matron,  to  keep  as  much  of  the 
money  in  the  family  as  possible !  "  For  we  have  always 
been  poor,"  she  said !  She  also  told  me  that  the  old 
teachers  had  "  all  been  dismissed,  and  none  of  the  new 
ones  knew  what  to  do  with  such  children  as  were  in 
that  room."    And  that  was  why  they  were  as  they  were  ! 

This  matron  was  a  good  woman ;  at  least  she  told  the 
truth  when  she  said  she  was  doing  the  best  she  knew 
how.  But,  oh,  good  people,  the  day  must  come  when 
the  like  of  this  shall  not  be  possible.  The  wail  of  that 
paralytic  idiot  boy,  tied  in  his  chair,  and  the  helpless 
mutterings  of  those  three  children  strapped  to  their  beds 
—  these,  and  others  like  them  (for  these  are  not  alone) 
shall  come  up  before  God,  and,  some  day,  such  things 
will  cease  to  be,  for  God  will  have  it  so ! 

I  saw  the  same  institution  some  years  later,  when 
changes  had  again  been  made  in  management,  for  the 
same  political  reasojis.  The  place  was  scrupulously 
clean,  the  children  had  good  food  and  clothing,  and 
were  well  cared  for,  so  far  as  their  bodies  were  con- 
cerned. But  that  was  about  all.  The  superintendent 
was  only  another  doctor-politician,  and  the  teachers 
and  assistants  were  all  in  their  places  because  of 
political  prestige.  Not  one  of  them  had  ever  had 
any  special  training  for  such  places  as  they  held,  and 
there  was  an  air  of  any-way-to-get-along  about  the  en- 
tire institution.  I  did  not  meet  a  soul  about  the  place 
that  I  felt  had  any  idea  whatever  of  what  the  words 
"  love  "  and  "  sympathy  "  meant,  or  might  mean,  in  the 
premises.  It  all  seemed  to  me  as  exploited  on  the  com- 
monest material  plane,  with  never  an  idea  or  an  action 
that  extended  much  above  the  waistline  of  all  parties 
concerned. 


CONCERNING  INSTITUTIONS  275 

When  I  compared  this  institution  with  another,  in  a 
neighboring  state,  which  I  once  visited,  the  contrast 
was  most  marked.  In  this  latter  I  saw  the  best  peda- 
gogical work  I  have  ever  set  my  eyes  on.  I  saw  some 
fifty  idiotic  boys,  some  of  them  exceedingly  "  short "  in 
many  ways,  at  work  making  brushes  of  various  kinds. 
Their  attainments  were  something  wonderful.  A  good 
many  of  the  brushes  were  of  the  coarser  kind,  the  mak- 
ing of  which  did  not  call  for  any  very  delicate  manipula- 
tion. Others  were  of  fine  quality,  and  required  great 
skill  for  their  successful  construction.  But  all  the  work 
was  well  done,  and  the  boys  worked  at  it  with  a  will. 
The  teacher  was  a  practical  brush  maker,  who  loved  the 
work  and  the  boys  he  taught  how  to  do  it.  I  never  saw 
such  devotion  and  skill  embodied  in  a  teacher  as  was 
manifested  by  this  man.  And  his  boys  (he  called  them 
his  boys)  were  happy,  cheerful,  and  getting  on.  What 
more  was  needed  } 

But  — 

Two  years  later  I  visited  the  same  institution.  This 
wonderful  teacher  was  gone,  and  the  brush  shop  was 
closed  !  The  boys  were  lounging  about,  or  were  herded 
in  rooms,  or  on  the  lawn,  in  charge  of  "  keepers."  It 
was  the  same  old  story.  There  was  a  new  governor. 
He  had  made  a  clean  sweep  of  the  personnel  of  the  in- 
stitution, and  his  political  helpers,  men  and  women,  were 
now  in  charge,  their  sole  qualifications  being  that  they 
had  done  good  work  during  the  campaign  ! 

The  place  was  clean,  the  children  were  well  fed,  and 
I  saw  no  signs  of  their  physical  abuse.  But  I  saw 
nothing  in  the  way  of  special  provisions  for  their  partic- 
ular condition.  It  was  all  on  the  material  plane,  with 
no   recognition   of    the   possibility   of   anything   more. 


276        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

There  was  some  attempt  at  routine  schoolroom  work, 
of  the  regular  graded  school  sort,  but  it  amounted  to 
little  or  nothing.  Not  one  child  in  a  hundred  in  the 
institution  could  do  anything  with  it  worth  mentioning. 
Some  of  the  teachers  had  done  that  kind  of  work  before 
in  public  schools.  That  was  claimed  by  the  governor 
as  proof  positive  that  they  were  fit  for  their  places. 
For  is  not  teaching  teaching  ?     Truly  so ! 

Several  of  these  teachers  were  bright  and  pleasant 
young  women,  but  I  saw  only  one  that  was  at  all  fitted 
for  the  work  they  were  all  trying  to  do.  I  do  not  ac- 
cuse them  personally.  It  is  the  political  system  that 
I  condemn.  That  is  wholly  bad.  And,  because  it  is 
wholly  bad,  it  must  go.  It  is  a  bad  thing,  help  push  it 
along.     You  I  am  talking  to. 

And,  one  of  these  days,  when  the  system  and  the 
institutions  it  runs  have  both  passed  away  (the  institu- 
tions will  remain  long  after  the  political  system  that  now 
runs  them  is  gone  —  will  remain,  I  believe,  to  do  an 
untold  amount  of  good  in  the  way  of  pioneer  work,  in 
discovering  how  best  to  handle  each  special  kind  of 
"  shorts "  committed  to  their  care ;  and  then,  having 
served  their  special  purposes  in  the  order  of  things, 
they  too,  will  retire),  when  both  these  have  passed,  then 
we  shall  have  so  well  learned  how  and  what  to  do  for 
these  variants  from  the  normal,  that  we  will  make 
places  for  them  in  our  public  schools,  where  they  can 
grow  up  in  natural  surroundings,  and  so  come  to  fill 
their  natural  places  in  human  society.  Such  a  con- 
summation may  be  a  very  long  ways  off,  is  doubtlessly 
so,  but  some  day  it  will  come.  And  it  is  your  business 
and  mine  to  help  it  arrive. 


CHAPTER   XXX 

"MAKING  AN  ACT" 

Agnes  Repplier's  "  Bouquets  of  Good  Deeds  "  —  The  Two  Sides  of 
the  Issue  —  The  Limits  of  "  Authority  "  —  Tyranny  and  Freedom 
—  "  Swine,  why  will  ye  Squeal  ?  "  —  Bearing  of  this  Principle  edu- 
cationally examined  —  The  Good  and  the  'Bad  in  its  Practice  — 
Punctuality  —  Possible  Abuse  of  this  Virtue  —  Tardy  Boy  with 
Weak  Heart  —  Compulsion  and  Self-righteousness  —  Laziness  — 
Bill  Nye  as  a  Lazy  Man  —  Truancy  —  Professor  Bodine's  Testi- 
mony —  The  Right  and  the  Wrong  of  "  Making  Acts  "  —  The 
True  Mission  of  Drudgery. 

In  one  of  her  most  clever  sketches,  Agnes  Repplier 
tells  how  she  and  her  schoolgirl  chums  used  to  "  make 
acts."  To  make  an  act  consisted  in  deliberately  and 
purposely  doing  something  that  one  naturally  disliked 
to  do,  some  duty  whose  performance  went  against  the 
grain.  She  goes  on  to  tell  what  credits  they  were  given 
in  school  for  making  acts,  and  how  they  kept  a  tally  of 
them,  out  of  which  they  made  "bouquets  of  good 
deeds,"  which  were  duly  presented  to  their  teachers  on 
festive  occasions.  All  of  which  was  counted  as  of  great 
moral  worth  and  a  means  of  educational  discipline  to 
the  girls. 

As  Miss  Repplier  tells  it,  she  has  her  fling  at  the 
practice,  and  perhaps  with  good  reason,  all  the  items  in 
the  case,  as  she  was  obliged  to  practice  them,  being 
taken  into  account.  None  the  less,  the  fact  remains 
that  there  is  virtue  gained  by  making  acts,  if  only  the 
acts  made  are  of  the  right  kind.  And  right  there  some- 
thing needs  to  be  said,  since  this  idea  is  closely  related 

277 


278       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

to  the  education  of  all  the  children  of  all  the  people,  as 
this  has  so  far  been  attempted  and  worked  out. 

I  have  always  admired  the  old  woman  who  said, 
"What  God  and  circumstances  put  on  me  I'll  try  to 
stand  and  keep  good  natured  about;  but  what  John 
and  the  old  man  are  to  blame  for,  I'll  be  bound  if  I'll 
put  up  with  !  " 

There  is  a  whole  lot  of  cant  and  nonsense,  not  to  say 
wretched  tyranny,  current  in  this  business  of  "  making 
acts  "  in  life,  not  of  the  kind  Miss  Repplier  speaks  of, 
perhaps,  but  of  a  similar  sort,  in  all  kinds  of  places,  that 
we  have  to  meet  with.  It  is  held  by  the  pronounced 
advocates  of  the  dogma  that  it  cultivates  virtue  to  the 
highest  extent  to  do  just  what  one  is  told  to  do,  no 
matter  what,  and  ask  no  questions  and  make  no  replies. 
But  the  fact  is,  it  makes  all  the  difference  in  the  world 
what  the  cause  is  that  stands  behind  the  required  obe- 
dience, as  to  the  virtue  that  is  forthcoming  from  con- 
formity to  its  dictates.  If  the  compelling  agency  is  "  God 
and  circumstances,"  as  the  old  lady  put  it,  making  acts 
from  such  cause  will  develop  virtue  of  the  divinest 
quality.  For  this  cause  martyrs  have  gone  to  the  stake, 
and  Jesus  hung  upon  the  Cross.  Let  no  one  say  one 
single  word  against  the  sacrifice  of  one's  selfish  desires 
on  the  altar  of  duty  which  is  God-born. 

But  all  this  is  one  thing,  and  being  compelled  to  do 
things  merely  because  "  John  and  the  old  man  "  say  so, 
is  quite  another  thing,  and  right  there  is  where  the  dif- 
ficulty arises.  It  was  the  like  of  these  latter  "acts" 
that  Miss  Repplier  reviled. 

There  has  been  no  more  frequent  sin,  through  all 
the  ages,  than  for  selfish  men  and  women  to  set  up 
their  own  authority  and  label  it  the  will  of   God   or 


"MAKING  AN  ACT"  279 

virtually  that.  Nor  has  this  sinning  been  confined  to 
the  church  —  any  church  —  more  than  to  other  forms 
of  centralized  power.  True,  most  churches  have  been 
guilty  of  the  practice,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  at 
some  period  in  their  history;  but  equally,  or  more 
guilty,  have  been  kings,  emperors,  presidents,  govern- 
ors, parliaments,  congresses,  legislatures,  parents,  school- 
teachers, and  the  whole  line  of  those  who  are  "  in  au- 
thority." 

I  suppose  the  reason  for  this  is  to  be  found,  not  in 
our  own  innate  depravity,  but  in  the  infiniteness  of  our 
individuality.  The  fact  is,  we  are  each  of  us  so  great, 
in  our  inmost  selves,  that  there  is  an  inherent  desire  for 
omnipotence  on  the  part  of  every  one  of  us,  and  we  are 
wont  to  mistake  the  wish  of  our  own  hearts  for  the 
voice  of  Deity  itself.  I  think  few  cases  of  tyranny 
could  ever  be  found  where  the  tyrant  could  not  justify 
himself  and  his  acts,  if  his  side  of  the  story  alone  were 
told.  All  tyrants  are  not  bad-meaning  men.  Indeed,  it 
might  be  truthfully  said  that  they  are  all  well-meaning 
men,  from  their  own  viewpoint.  Most  excellent  men 
and  the  tenderest-hearted  women  have  justified  slavery, 
from  the  earliest  times ;  and  the  most  exacting  school- 
masters, or  set-in-their-ways  schoolmarms,  are  cocksure 
that  their  requirements  are  not  only  just  and  right,  but 
that  they  are  the  best  means  for  compassing  the  proper 
education  and  development  of  the  children  under  their 
care. 

And  so,  in  passing  judgment  on  these  and  others  like 
them,  we  need  to  be  merciful,  even  as  we  would  have 
them  show  mercy.  I  may  need  mercy  myself,  even  for 
the  words  I  am  now  writing !  "  Such  as  you  and  I " 
has  a  wide  range ! 


28o       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

But  mercy  must  have  its  limit,  like  every  other  good 
thing;  or,  the  first  thing  we  know,  it  will  fall  on  the 
other  side  and  result  in  an  evil  that  is  worse  than  the 
one  it  was  set  to  mend. 

And  so,  to  come  to  the  point  that  is  germane  to  the 
subject  in  hand,  namely,  what  all  this  has  to  do  with 
the  education  of  all  the  children  of  all  the  people,  there 
is  very  little  good  that  can  ever  come  to  a  pupil  by 
forcing  him  to  "  make  an  act "  which  is  based  solely  on 
the  whim,  or  notion,  or  caprice,  of  some  one,  or  a  whole 
lot  of  ones,  who  are  in  authority  over  him.  More  than 
that,  for  a  pupil  to  yield  obedience  to  such  demands 
without  protest  or  attempt  to  be  free  from  the  thraldom, 
breeds  a  spirit  of  unquestioning  servitude,  stultifies  the 
intellect  and  dwarfs  the  soul,  and  tends  to  make  the 
pupil  more  of  a  slave  than  a  man.  And  that  is  why 
the  state  has  a  right  to  look  after  this  matter. 

It  may  be  said  (and  doubtless  will  be,  by  some  who 
read  these  pages)  that  there  is  small  need  of  preaching 
the  doctrine  of  freedom  and  independence  to  American 
children;  but  do  not  the  records  of  every  year  since 
we  have  been  in  existence  as  a  nation  teach  that  it  is 
only  this  spirit  which  has  saved  us  alive  and  given  us  a 
name  and  a  place  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  ?  And 
from  whom  have  protests  for  the  reverse  of  these  things 
come  ?  From  those  who  would  maintain  their  order  of 
things,  regardless  —  from  "stand-patters"  and  their 
likes.  Peace,  peace,  they  shout !  "  Swine,  why  will  ye 
squeal.?"  they  continually  do  cry.  They  are  not  bad 
people  who  say  these  things  —  not  bad  in  some  ways 
that  are  currently  called  bad.  Many  of  them  neither 
swear,  nor  drink,  nor  live  licentiously ;  and  yet,  if  they 
could  have  their  way  with  those  with  whom  they  are  out 


"MAKING  AN  ACT"  281 

of  patience  for  not  doing  as  they  say,  they  would  soon 
bring  about  a  despotism  that  would  be  Russian. 

All  this  has  an  especial  bearing  on  the  matter  of 
forcing  courses  of  study  upon  pupils;  and  of  school 
government,  as  it  perhaps  pertains  to  them.  The  right, 
in  both  these  cases,  turns  on  the  basis  of  authority  for 
requirements  imposed.  If  this  is  seated  only  in  the 
notions  of  the  dictator,  and  has  no  solid  backing  in  the 
eternal  order  of  things  as  they  pertain  to  each  one  who 
is  asked  to  conform  —  in  such  case,  the  good  that  can 
come  from  obedience  to  demands  can  be,  at  best,  only 
of  a  negative  sort. 

When  the  backing  of  a  compulsory  course  of  study  is 
only  the  dictum  of  men  and  women  who  have  the 
power  to  compel  its  observance,  small  good  can  come 
to  the  pupil  who  "  makes  an  act "  of  undertaking  its 
requirements.  If  the  course  and  their  natural  abilities 
tally,  well  and  good.  Then  they  make  no  act  by  con- 
forming to  it.  But  if  they  only  do  as  they  are  told,  or 
as  they  are  compelled  to  do  if  they  stay  in  school  at  all, 
little  good  can  come  to  them  from  such  servitude. 

The  same  principle  holds  good  in  the  matter  of  school 
government.  All  of  this  that  is  based  on  the  welfare 
of  each  child,  he  being  what  he  is,  is  good.  All  else  is 
bad,  no  matter  who  backs  it,  or  how  it  is  done. 

Which  leads  me  to  say  that  the  greatest  of  care 
should  be  taken  by  teachers  in  the  use  of  wholesale 
methods  of  securing  conformity  to  requirements,  no 
matter  how  just  these  may  be  in  a  general  way. 

For  instance :  Punctuality  is  a  virtue  which  our 
schools  should  surely  inculcate,  to  the  limit.  But  the 
teacher  should  never  forget  that  there  is  a  limit.  I  once 
saw  this :  A  teacher  brought  a  boy  of  ten  to  the  prin- 


282        ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

cipal,  and  said :  "  Charlie  has  been  tardy  again,  and 
when  I  asked  him  why,  he  said  he  slept  too  late  this 
morning.  Now,  don't  you  think  that  if  a  boy  can't  sleep 
enough  at  home,  I  had  better  make  him  sleep  in  school, 
where  we  can  all  see  him  do  it  ? " 

And  the  principal  said  he  thought  that  would  be  a 
good  thing.  So  the  boy  was  taken  to  the  schoolroom 
where  he  belonged,  some  shawls  were  spread  on  the 
floor  near  the  teacher's  desk,  and  on  these  the  little 
fellow  was  compelled  to  lie  down  in  the  presence  of  his 
laughing  schoolmates.  He  was  as  pale  as  a  ghost 
when  he  lay  down,  his  hands  were  cold,  and  his  teeth 
chattered  as  if  he  had  the  ague.  But  that  made  no 
difference !  He  was  habitually  tardy,  and  his  bad  habit 
had  to  be  broken  up.     That  was  the  why  of  it  all. 

Now  this  teacher  did  not  mean  to  be  bad.  She  was 
really  a  kind-hearted  woman,  in  most  things.  And  she 
was  trying  to  do  her  duty,  in  a  way.  But  she  was  a 
tyrant,  so  far  as  this  boy  was  concerned.  And  I  will 
tell  you  why. 

The  woman  who  taught  drawing  in  that  building,  and 
so  went  from  room  to  room,  happened  to  be  present 
when  this  boy  was  disgraced  before  the  school.  She 
said  nothing  (and  she  was  wise  in  that  she  did  not 
speak),  but  she  made  it  her  business  to  follow  the  boy 
to  his  home  and  see  his  parents.  They  told  her  that 
the  boy  was  "too  lazy  to  draw  his  breath,"  and  that  he 
"wanted  to  sleep  all  the  time."  And  it  struck  this 
teacher  that  this  was  not  a  normal  condition  for  a  boy 
of  ten ;  and  as  the  parents  had  only  reproaches  for  the 
little  fellow,  she,  on  her  own  responsibility,  took  him  to 
a  physician  who  knew  his  business,  and  asked  him  to 
examine  the  child.     As  soon  as  the  doctor  put  his  hand 


"MAKING  AN  ACT"  283 

on  the  boy's  pulse  he  said :  "  Why,  this  child  is  suffer- 
ing from  a  weak  heart.     It  is  a  marvel  that  he  is  alive." 

The  fact  was  that  this  boy's  heart  was  beating  only  a 
little  over  forty  times  in  a  minute,  when  it  should  have 
beaten  seventy-five,  and  that  was  the  cause  of  his  tardi- 
ness and  of  his  laziness.  And  when  a  few  weeks'  treat- 
ment had  put  that  heart  shipshape,  both  these  defects 
were  cured  also.  All  of  which  is  another  proof  that 
"these  things  are  in  the  body." 

And  what  does  this  truthful  tale  teach  regarding 
"  making  acts  "  .''  It  teaches  a  great  many  things  which 
you  know  as  well  as  I  do,  and  which  we  all  need  to  give 
heed  to.  It  teaches,  first,  that  before  we  say  "you 
must "  to  a  pupil,  we  should  be  sure  of  all  the  facts  in 
the  case.  Second,  that  there  is  great  danger  of  our 
being  bad  when  we  mean  to  be  good  and  are  too  self- 
righteous  to  see  more  than  one  side  of  the  case.  Third, 
that  what  is  often  called  laziness  is  really  inability. 
And  those  are  three  great  lessons  that  every  teacher 
and  parent  ought  to  master  and  hold  a  diploma  vouch- 
ing for  efficiency  in,  before  being  allowed  to  have  any- 
thing to  do  with  the  governing  of  children. 

Which  leads  me  to  say  that  I  would  like  to  write  a 
chapter  on  laziness,  if  I  had  room  for  it. 

But  won't  you  work  it  out  for  yourself  ?  In  a  word, 
my  own  opinion  is  that  what  we  condemn  (not  to  say 
damn)  in  people  as  laziness  arises  often  from  inapti- 
tude, or  inability,  to  move  out  successfully  on  certain 
lines.  Just  think  of  that,  and  see  how  it  fits  your  case. 
I  am  very  sure  how  it  fits  mine. 

I  know  a  young  man  who  from  his  earliest  youth  has 
been  branded  as  lazy.  Yet  he  once  rode  a  bicycle  from 
Chicago  to  Boston !     Would  a  lazy  boy  do  that  ?     We 


284       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

need  to  reform  our  definition  of  this  fault.  Perhaps 
what  we  need  more  than  that  is  to  understand  it  better. 
When  I  traveled  with  Bill  Nye,  our  manager  told  me 
that  I  should  find  him  the  laziest  man  I  ever  saw.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  I  never  knew  him  to  rest  for  a  single  in- 
stant. He  was  averse  to  physical  exercise.  But  his 
mind  was  always  on  the  alert.  As  he  said,  he  could 
never  get  his  "  think  tank  "  to  let  up  for  a  minute.  He 
died  from  mental  overwork  at  the  age  of  forty-six.  Was 
he  lazy  ? 

With  these  hints,  you  can  work  out  this  problem  of 
laziness  for  yourself.  But  don't  neglect  to  do  it  if  you 
have  lazy  children  to  deal  with,  either  in  your  family  or 
in  school. 

And  all  children  are  lazy  on  some  lines.  They  are 
specially  liable  to  be  so  between  the  ages  of  eight  and 
fourteen.  So  many  others  have  treated  that  fact  that  I 
need  not  go  into  it  here.  But  put  all  the  reasons  for 
laziness  together,  when  you  work  out  the  problem,  and 
act  according  to  what  they  all  say,  and  then  you  will 
have  less  cause  to  pray  for  forgiveness  for  your  sins 
against  lazy  children  than  you  otherwise  would. 

This  naturally  leads  to  the  subject  of  truancy,  on 
which  it  is  truth  to  say  that  the  great  bulk  of  truancy  is 
caused  by  the  unwillingness  of  children  to  undertake 
what  they  have  little  or  no  ability  to  perform.  Professor 
Bodine,  of  Chicago,  who  has  had  charge  of  the  truancy 
affairs  of  that  city  for  a  number  of  years,  testifies  that 
more  than  eighty  per  cent  of  the  cases  that  he  has  had 
to  deal  with  are  below  the  fourth  grade,  and  that  he 
rarely  ever  knew  of  a  case  of  truancy  where  the  child 
was  doing  well  in  school  and  was  abreast  of  his  class  in 
his  grade  work.     "  They  are  practically  all  children  who 


"MAKING  AN  ACT"  285 

do  not,  or  cannot,  get  along  well  in  the  work  they  are 
required  to  do  in  the  schoolroom  "  is  the  way  he  put  it. 
He  told  of  one  "truant"  who  had  been  kept  in  one 
grade  for  seventy -two  weeks,  because  there  was  some  of 
the  work  that  belonged  to  that  grade  which  he  could  not 
master.  What  wonder  that  such  a  boy  was  a  truant  ? 
The  marvel  is  that  he  did  not  commit  suicide ! 

Which  brings  us  back  to  the  same  old  point ;  namely, 
that  we  must  make  our  schools  fit  the  pupils  if  we  com- 
pel the  pupils  to  attend  them.  A  truancy  law  is  a  good 
thing,  in  so  far  as  it  keeps  all  the  children  in  school. 
But  it  needs  to  be  supplemented  by  work  in  these  schools 
that  shall  be  suited  to  the  needs  of  all  the  children  we 
legally  compel  to  attend  them.     And  it  will  be. 

Need  I  protest,  once  more,  that  in  saying  these  things 
I  am  not  advocating  happy-go-lucky,  any-old-way  meth- 
ods in  school  government  and  work  ?  I  am  doing  no 
such  thing.  I  will  even  go  farther  and  declare  that  I 
seriously  doubt  whether  "  moral  suasion  "  is  a  sufficiently 
potent  force  to  make  our  schools  a  success.  There  are 
many  cases  where,  things  being  as  they  are,  "  the  stern 
hand  of  the  law  "  is  the  only  power  that  will  keep  things 
moving  as  they  should.  All  I  ask  for  is,  that  when  this 
same  stern  hand  of  the  law  gets  in  its  work,  it  should  do 
so  on  the  lines  of  justice,  decency,  and  common  sense, 
and  not  merely  in  the  execution  of  its  own  arbitrary 
power. 

I  need  not  extenuate.  Every  right-minded  person 
who  reads  these  lines  knows  what  I  mean ;  and  for  the 
rest,  there  is  no  use  in  talking.  Yet  even  these  will  see 
things  right  some  day.  The  world  does  move.  If  we 
compel  our  children  to  "make  acts,"  let  us  be  sure  we 
are  right  in  doing  so,  all  the  facts  being  taken  into  the 


286        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

account.  Then  such  "  making  "  will  be  good  for  them. 
Otherwise  not. 

I  am  tempted  just  here  to  pursue  this  theme  further 
along  the  line  of  school  government  and  its  related  sub- 
jects, but  space  forbids.  I  must  remark,  however,  that 
I  believe  the  method  of  having  the  pupils  of  the  higher 
grades  in  our  public  schools  govern  themselves  is  a 
move  in  the  right  direction;  and  that  it  will  one  day 
largely  obtain  in  these  departments.  It  is  all  of  the 
right  sort,  the  development  of  self-controlling  indi- 
viduals. It  is  not  an  easy  way  to  go.  Its  early  experi- 
mentation and  exploitation  will  be  crude  and  full  of 
errors ;  all  sorts  of  ignominy  will  be  heaped  upon  it  by 
monarchical  unbelievers  and  those  who  lack  faith  in  all 
mankind ;  but,  in  spite  of  it  all,  I  believe  the  method  of 
self-government  in  the  higher  grades  of  our  public 
schools  will  win  its  way  to  the  front.  It  has  the  right 
marks  upon  it,  and  so  it  must  succeed. 

Perhaps  I  ought  to  add  that  I  do  not  at  all  ignore  the 
fact  that  there  are  a  great  many  things,  in  the  lives  of 
all  of  us,  that  we  must  do  whether  we  like  to  or  not. 
There  is  more  or  less  drudgery  for  us  all.  And  drudg- 
ery has  its  place  in  the  development  of  virtue,  doubtless. 
All  I  insist  on  is  that  we  and  our  children  should  not  be 
made  to  drudge  simply  for  drudgery's  sake.  We  should 
all  learn  to  do  unpleasant  tasks  when  we  must,  but  that 
must  should  be  "  God  or  circumstances,"  and  not  the 
dicta  of  some  one  who  merely  wants  to  compel  us  to 
obey  his  will.  That  is,  we  should  not  do  disagreeable 
things  merely  to  "  make  acts."  We  should  do  them 
with  pleasure  when  genuine  duty  requires.  Such  "made 
acts,"  bunched  together,  will  surely  make  most  fragrant 
and  beautiful  "  bouquets  of  good  deeds." 


CHAPTER   XXXI 

MANIPULATION 

Definition  of  the  Term  —  Growth  of  this  Quality  the  Measure  of 
all  Progress  —  Its  Possible  Transmission  —  The  Teaching  that 
Counts  —  The  Business  of  Schools  as  seen  from  this  Viewpoint 

—  Simplicity  of  Ancient  Work  on  these  Lines  —  How  its  Volume 
grew  —  Learning  what  has  been  done  vs.  Learning  how  to  do 

—  A  Place  for  an  Economic  Waste  Basket  —  Manipulation  and 
Books  —  Boys  who  are  Book-dull  but  Manipulative! y  Strong 
Otherwise  —  New  Possibilities  in  Educational  Work  opened  just 
here  —  The  Doctrine  of  "Short"  and  "Long"  as  related  to 
Manipulation  —  Range  of  the  Faculty  and  some  of  its  Results  — 
The  Letter  and  the  Spirit  of  this  Law. 

The  word  that  stands  at  the  head  of  this  chapter  has 
a  bad  name,  in  some  of  its  meanings ;  but  it  is  a  good 
word  for  all  that.  And  it  is  in  its  good  sense  that^I  in- 
troduce it  here,  as  germane  to  the  issue  of  educating  all 
the  children  of  all  the  people  so  that  they  may  become 
good  citizens,  as  they  would  not  all  become  but  for  the 
education  which  the  state  gives  them.  As  I  use  the 
word  "manipulation"  here,  it  means  the  changing  of  things 
from  a  cruder  to  a  more  perfect  condition,  through  the 
agency  of  human  deeds.  Man  finds  things  in  a  certain 
state,  or  condition;  and  by  manipulation  he  changes 
them  so  that  they  shall  better  serve  his  needs.  That 
is  a  simple  way  of  saying  what  I  mean  by  manipulation. 

And  the  progress  of  the  human  race  has  always  been 
measured  by  the  growth  of  the  power  to  manipulate,  on 
the  part  of  mankind.  When  man  had  no  manipulative 
power  he  was  on  a  par  with  the  rest  of  the  animals. 

287 


288       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

But  when  he  put  an  edge  on  a  piece  of  stone,  and  used 
that  to  fight  with  or  to  chop  wood  with,  then  he  left  the 
ranks  of  the  mere  brute  creation  and  began  his  ascent 
of  the  ladder  of  mental  and  spiritual  progress!  And 
every  step  that  he  has  gained  in  his  upward  climb  has 
been  at  the  hands  of  his  ability  to  manipulate  something. 
I  need  not  work  out  the  details.  You  can  do  that  as 
well  as  I  can,  now  that  you  have  the  idea. 

This  manipulative  ability  on  the  part  of  mankind 
manifests  itself  in  a  million  ways.  It  deals  not  only 
with  stone  and  steel  —  wood,  hay,  and  stubble  —  but  it 
busies  itself  with  the  stuff  that  dreams  are  made  on, 
with  ideas,  and  the  highest  spiritualities.  The  range  of 
its  work  is  limitless,  and  wherever  it  leads  the  way,  there 
a  larger  civilization  follows.  But  wherever  its  hand  is 
stayed,  stagnation  results. 

Now  manipulation  is  a  quality  that  can  be  transmitted 
from  one  generation  to  another.  The  fathers  can  show 
us  how  and  what  they  did ;  we  can  learn  their  ways,  and 
so  can  plant  our  feet  on  the  round  of  the  ladder  that 
they  stood  on,  to  say  the  least.  And  then,  if  we  are 
what  we  ought  to  be — if  we  will  do  as  much  for  the 
future  as  the  past  has  done  for  us,  we  will  proceed  to  do 
some  manipulation  on  our  own  behalf,  and  so  the  race 
will  progress  a  little  more,  the  world  will  be  some  better 
for  our  having  lived  in  it.  This  is  the  story  of  the  growth 
of  civilization  through  manipulation. 

And  when  the  one  who  knows  how  shows  some  one 
who  doesn't  know  how  the  way  to  do  what  he  of  the  first 
part  does,  and  succeeds  in  getting  the  party  of  the  second 
part  to  do  as  well,  or  better,  than  he  of  the  first  part  does, 
that  is  teaching  that  counts.     All  else  is  a  fake. 

Schools  are  the  places  set  apart  where  this  teaching 


MANIPULATION  289 

is  to  be  done.  In  a  word,  it  is  a  part  of  the  business  of 
schools  to  transmit  manipulative  ability  from  one  gener- 
ation to  the  next.  This  much  they  must  do,  if  they  keep 
what  is  coming  on  abreast  of  what  has  been,  or  is. 
They  ought  to  do  a  good  deal  more,  and  give  the  advanc- 
ing host  the  power  to  march  at  least  a  little  farther 
along  the  road  of  progress  than  their  predecessors  have 
ever  traveled. 

Of  course,  in  the  early  ages  of  the  race  all  teaching 
was  very  simple,  and  the  range  it  compassed  was  ex- 
ceedingly narrow.  Only  a  little  manipulation  had  been 
done,  and  this  was  of  the  primitive  sort,  the  mastery  of 
which  it  was  not  difficult  to  transmit.  Teaching  was 
then  no  complicated  affair,  and  success  in  the  art  was 
not  difficult.  When  the  stone-age  father  had  only  to 
have  his  son  take  a  stone  in  his  hand  and  do  as  he  did, 
neither  the  theory  nor  the  art  of  education  was  hard  to 
master. 

As  the  volume  and  range  of  manipulation  grew,  then 
indeed  the  art  of  teaching  became  more  and  more  com- 
plicated. And  by  and  by  the  accumulated  mass  of 
things  that  could  be  done  became  so  great  that  no  one 
man  could  master  it  all. 

Then  began  the  practice  of  teaching  the  mere  story 
of  what  had  been  done,  instead  of  the  doing  of  the 
same!  And  right  there  is  where  both  teachers  and 
schools  began  to  make  a  great  mistake.  Of  course,  the 
records  of  what  had  been  done  must  be  preserved.  So 
much  was  right.  But  a  mere  memory  knowledge  of  a 
record  of  what  has  been  done  is  a  far  different  thing 
from  the  ability  to  do  well  at  least  some  of  the  things 
that  the  record  tells  about.  And  when  teachers  and 
schools  began  putting  the  bulk  of  their  time  and  labor. 


290       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

and  that  of  their  pupils,  on  the  mere  learning  about 
what  had  been  done,  rather  than  on  doing  some  of  the 
things  themselves,  then  they  set  their  feet  in  a  wrong 
path.  And  some  of  them  have  gone  a  long  way  on  this 
wrong  road,  and  they  are  still  loath  to  leave  it. 

Because,  you  see,  it  is  only  the  ability  to  do  something 
that  makes  a  human  being  of  value  to  himself  and  his 
fellows.  He  who  can  only  tell  what  someone  else  has 
done  is  a  very  small  factor  in  civilization.  He  can  add 
but  very  little  to  the  progress  of  the  race.  A  citizen  is 
of  value  to  society  and  the  state  only  as  he  has  the 
ability  to  help  society  and  the  state  to  be  better  because 
he  is  a  member  of  them.  And  whoever  fails  to  do  this 
is  a  burden  and  not  a  blessing  to  all  parties  concerned. 
The  state  cannot  afford  to  make  burdens  for  itself  to 
carry.  It  must  get  returns  for  the  money  and  effort 
expended  in  trying  to  make  helpful  men  and  women 
out  of  helpless  children. 

A  great  deal  of  what  was  once  of  value  by  way  of 
manipulative  ability  has  fallen  into  the  rubbish  heap,  as 
time  has  gone  on.  It  may  be  well  enough  that  the 
record  of  all  this  sort  be  preserved ;  but  the  day  of  the 
utility  of  longer  bothering  our  heads  very  much  about 
it  has  long  gone  by.  Surely  we  have  no  right  to  de- 
mand that  all  the  children  of  all  the  people  shall  mem- 
orize all  this  rubbish  of  what  pertains  to  the  dead 
manipulation  which  was  done  in  former  times.  There 
is  a  place  in  this  world  for  the  economic  use  of  a  waste- 
basket. 

When  our  schools  teach  the  manipulation  of  books 
rather  than  their  memorization,  then  we  shall  have  a 
large  amount  of  time  for  the  pupils  to  spend  in  learning 
to  manipulate  other  things.     This,  as    I   have   before 


MANIPULATION  29I 

stated,  but  must  say  again,  will  make  room  for  manual 
training  and  domestic  science  in  our  school  courses,  so 
that  no  crowding  will  result.  This  will  give  us  a  chance 
to  teach  our  boys  and  girls  how  :o  do  things,  rather  than 
merely  to  memorize  how  somebody  else  has  done  them; 
in  which  last  there  is  small  virtue. 

Then,  too,  we  shall  have  time  to  give  our  boys  and 
girls  a  chance  to  try  their  hands  at  bits  of  manipulation 
on  their  own  account,  opportunity  to  handle  things  in 
their  own  way  and  as  the  spirit  gives  them  power  to 
utter,  and  not  merely  things  that  can  be  wrought  upon 
with  the  hands.  They  can  be  led,  each  in  his  own  way, 
to  fashion  some  idea  of  his  own,  to  give  it  a  form  that 
no  one  else  has  ever  shaped  it  into  ;  to  manipulate  some- 
thing, in  some  way,  as  has  never  before  been  done,  and 
so  to  contribute  something  to  the  advancement  of  the 
race.     Is  this  too  much  to  expect .-'     I  believe  not. 

Did  you  see  the  report  of  the  boy  who  could  not  be 
kept  in  school  after  he  was  fourteen,  and  who  then 
made  a  wireless  telegraphic  apparatus,  according  to 
plans  of  his  own  working  out,  and  began  stealing 
government  messages  as  they  hurtled  through  the  air  ? 
And  a  teacher  said  to  me  the  other  day,  "  I  have  a 
couple  of  boys  in  school  that  I  can  hardly  do  a  thing 
with  in  their  classes  ;  but  if  there  is  anything  the  matter 
with  the  mechanism,  anywhere  in  the  building,  they  will 
get  after  it,  and  put  it  right,  nine  times  out  of  ten ;  and 
work  like  heroes,  and  be  as  happy  as  larks  while  they 
are  at  it."     Yea,  verily  ! 

The  permanent  success  of  our  schools,  the  measure 
of  what  they  really  do  for  the  good  of  the  body  politic, 
both  turn  on  how  much  and  how  well  they  teach  all  the 
children  of  all  the  people  to   manipulate  things  —  all 


292        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

sorts  of  things,  as  many  things  as  there  are  children, 
and  of  as  varying  grades  of  coarse  and  fine,  material 
and  spiritual,  as  there  are  varieties  of  quality  in  matter 
and  in  individual  being.  What  untried  ways  there  are 
here  for  us  to  travel,  what  unexplored  fields  for  us  to 
discover  and  survey ! 

And  herein  lies  the  inspiration  for  all  true  teachers, 
the  goal  that  lures  them  on.  Columbus  made  a  great 
addition  to  the  world's  map,  and  to  human  possibilities, 
when  he  found  the  western  world.  What  new  worlds 
may  you  and  I  yet  find,  in  the  unsailed  seas  of  human 
possibilities  that  are  open  in  every  schoolroom !  Such 
possibilities  are  always  present,  and  this  is  why  the  call- 
ing of  the  teacher  is  the  greatest  of  all.  If  only  we  can 
so  manipulate  these  possibilities  that  they  shall  ultimate 
for  the  utmost. 

I  cannot  leave  this  phase  of  the  subject  without 
recurring  once  more  to  the  doctrine  that  forms  the 
basis  of  all  I  have  to  say  in  this  treatise ;  namely,  that  it 
is  of  little  use  to  try  to  teach  pupils  to  manipulate  stuff 
which  they  have  no  natural  aptitude  for  handling.  The 
simple  truth  is  that  only  such  manipulation  as  can  be 
carried  on  with  clear  and  intelligent  thought  on  the  part 
of  the  manipulator  is  of  real  value  as  an  educative  force, 
or  as  a  former  of  character.  And  along  lines  where 
there  is  little  or  no  native  ability,  it  is  practically  im- 
possible to  secure  definite,  clearly  defined  thinking  — 
certainly  nothing  fresh  and  original  and  which  will  be 
of  real  benefit  to  the  individual  doing  the  work,  and  to 
the  community  of  which  he  is  a  part. 

Of  course  the  reader  will  take  into  account  the  fact 
that  native  abilities  do  not  always  all  reveal  themselves 
at  once  in  the  lives  of  some  individuals,  as  I  have  more 


MANIPULATION  293 

than  once  declared  in  what  I  have  ah^eady  said.  Some- 
times they  do  not  appear  till  manhood  is  fully  attained, 
so  far  as  years  are  concerned.  My  point  is,  that  it  is 
not  wise  to  try  to  develop  manipulative  power  where  no 
native  ability  is  manifest.  If  such  ability  appear  soon 
or  late,  make  the  most  of  it,  but  do  not  make  a  pupil 
"  go  through  the  motions  "  where  there  are  no  signs  of 
such  ability. 

And,  withal,  every  teacher  should  make  a  most  earnest 
effort  to  exploit  manipulative  ability  that  has  stuff  in  it. 
When  a  girl  is  taught  chiefly  how  to  manipulate  a  fan, 
or  to  do  the  conventional  thing  in  society,  she  is  not 
being  fairly  dealt  with,  so  far  as  her  education  is  con- 
cerned. When  a  boy  is  taught  how  to  be  a  dandy,  and 
to  spend  money  regardless,  in  a  word,  to  be  "  a  good 
fellow,"  he  is  sinned  against  by  those  who  plan  his 
education  on  such  lines,  or  who  allow  him  to  do  so. 
The  fan  may  be  a  woman's  weapon,  and  Chesterfieldian 
manners  doubtless  have  their  place,  to  a  degree,  among 
truly  well-bred  men;  but  merely  these,  and  little  or 
nothing  besides,  make  a  poor  outfit  for  a  successful 
American  citizen.  Grace  in  women  and  polite  bearing 
on  the  part  of  men  are  items  by  no  means  to  be  left 
out  of  the  account.  It  is  only  when  they  are  given 
undue  prominence,  that  makes  them  conspicuous  rather 
than  subsidiary,  that  fault  should  be  found  in  this 
regard.  Common  sense  and  not  conventionality,  the 
spirit  and  not  the  letter,  will  keep  us  right  here,  as 
elsewhere,  always. 

All  of  which  means  that  "vocational"  studies,  rather 
than  merely  "cultural  "  studies,  as  such,  should  form  the 
bulk  of  the  training  given  to  all  the  children  of  all  the 
people,  in  our  public  schools. 


CHAPTER   XXXII 

READING  AND   LITERATURE 

The  Art  of  Reading — Different  Methods  of  Acquiring  the  Art 
compared  —  Psychological  Phase  of  the  Subject  —  Silent  Read- 
ing and  Vocal  Reading  —  Definition  of  Literature  —  The  Winnow- 
ing-Fan  of  such  Definition  —  The  Mission  of  Language  —  History, 
Fossils,  and  Mummies  —  Monarchical  Literature  —  "  Passed  for 
us  "  —  Distinction  between  Themes  —  The  Teaching  of  Litera- 
ture in  View  of  these  Facts  —  College  Entrance  Demands  regard- 
ing Literature  —  The  Real  Mission  of  Teaching  Literature  in  the 
Public  Schools  —  What  Teachers  of  Literature  in  these  Schools 
should  try  to  do  —  Democratic  Literature  —  "To  Let"  on  Par- 
nassus—  Querulous  Critics  —  The  Kind  of  Literary  Seed  to  be 
Sown  in  the  Public  Schools —  Proofs  of  Real  Literary  Knowledge 
and  Ability. 

The  matter  of  the  manipulation  of  books,  briefly  noted 
in  the  last  chapter,  naturally  leads  to  a  discussion  of 
what  such  work  is  chiefly  for;  namely,  the  securing  of  a 
knowledge  of  literature  through  the  medium  of  reading. 
Reading  comes  first  in  this  discussion,  and  hence  a  few 
words  regarding  it.  I  cannot  treat  fully  of  the  methods 
of  acquiring  a  mastery  of  the  art  of  reading,  but  I  can 
note  a  few  leading  and  significant  principles  which  cover 
the  whole  ground. 

The  first  acquirement  to  be  gained  in  order  that  one 
may  be  a  successful  reader,  in  the  largest  sense  of  that 
phrase,  is  such  mechanical  mastery  (manipulation)  of 
the  art  of  gathering  words  off  the  page  with  the  eye 
that  there  shall  be  no  conscious  effort  in  the  act. 

294 


READING  AND   LITERATURE  295 

Of  course,  my  critic  may  contend  that  if  one  does  not 
comprehend  the  meaning  of  the  words  thus  gathered  by 
the  eye,  such  reading  is  in  vain.  Which  is  correct. 
But  the  point  I  want  to  make  is,  that  this  mechanical 
act  comes  first  in  the  natural  order  of  the  process  of 
reading,  and  until  it  is  mastered,  little  progress  can  else- 
where be  made ;  and  that  this  fact  has  often  been  ig- 
nored, or  lost  sight  of,  in  the  teaching  of  the  art.  Thus, 
of  late  years,  it  seems  to  me  too  much  stress  has  been 
laid  upon  the  "  thought  content "  of  what  was  read,  to 
the  exclusion  of  the  business  of  getting  the  words  off 
the  page  with  neatness  and  dispatch.  This  criticism 
applies  almost  entirely  to  the  lower  grades,  where  the 
fault  is  most  in  evidence.  In  much  of  the  reading  work 
done  in  these  grades,  more  attention  has,  of  late  years, 
been  paid  to  "  analysis  "  of  what  is  read  than  to  gather- 
ing the  words  with  the  eye.  I  cannot  believe  this  to  be 
either  wise  or  right. 

The  way  to  learn  to  read  is  to  read,  and  to  keep  doing 
it.  In  psychological  phrase,  the  mechanical  act  must 
be  so  mastered  that  it  can  be  relegated  to  the  sub- 
conscious self  before  that  part  of  the  art  of  reading  is  a 
success.  And  when  that  work  is  brought  to  such  per- 
fection that  it  will  "  do  itself,"  then  one  has  all  of  his 
mind  free  to  think  of  what  one  is  reading  about.  That 
is  the  true  philosophy  of  the  art  of  successful  reading. 

If  you  doubt  this  statement,  try  to  read  some  very 
blind  piece  of  handwriting,  upon  which  you  have  to 
spend  much  time  and  energy,  giving  the  text  your 
closest  attention,  and  see  how  much  of  the  "  thought 
content"  of  the  same  you  are  able  to  gather  as  you 
read.  There  is  not  enough  of  your  mind,  so  to  speak, 
to  do  both  things  at  once.     And  this  is  always  the  case 


296       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

where  it  is  hard  work  to  master  the  mechanical  work  of 
reading.  There  can  be  no  successful  gathering  of  the 
thought  which  words  are  set  to  convey  until  one  can 
easily  manipulate  the  words  themselves. 

(I  hardly  need  say  that  it  is  only  silent  reading  that  I 
am  speaking  of  here ;  namely,  the  art  of  gathering  the 
thought  of  the  author  from  the  printed  page.  Oral 
reading,  with  its  adjunct  of  elocution,  is  a  most  interest- 
ing theme,  but  it  is  too  far  afield  for  me  to  consider  in 
these  pages.  On  these  topics  "there  has  been  so  much 
said,  and  on  the  whole  so  well  said,  that  I  will  not  occupy 
space,  etc.") 

The  work  to  be  done  in  learning  the  mechanical  part 
of  reading  is  akin  to  the  "  finger  exercise  "  of  the  piano 
player.  It  is  largely  a  matter  of  physical  dexterity,  of 
technique,  if  you  will,  and  there  is  only  one  way  of  ac- 
quiring it  for  most  people,  —  namely,  by  continual  and 
unintermitting  practice.  So  our  pupils  in  school  need  to 
read,  read,  read,  and  so  they  will  acquire  the  mechanical 
ability  to  manipulate  books.     That  is,  most  of  them  will. 

Of  course,  all  the  while  they  are  doing  this  they  can 
be  practicing  on  reading  that  is  worthy  their  time  and 
attention.  No  finger  exercise  is  to  be  practiced  merely 
for  its  own  sake.  No  reading  should  be  required  from 
a  pupil  merely  as  an  eye  gymnastic.  The  point  is  clear 
for  those  who  have  eyes  to  see. 

And  as  one  masters  the  mechanical  part  of  reading,  a 
knowledge  of  literature  grows  apace  if  the  work  is  done 
as  it  should  be.  But  here  guiding  posts  need  to  be  set 
up,  and  directive  lines  run  —  a  few  at  least. 

When  the  pupil  begins  the  study  of  literature,  as  such 
(and  even  before  that),  it  is  essential  that  both  he  and 
his  teacher  should  have   a   clear   conception   of  what 


READING  AND  LITERATURE  297 

literature  really  is,  and  then  of  what  they  are  going  to 
do  about  it. 

What  do  you  think  literature  is  ?  I  wish  you  would 
try  to  define  it.  I  have  tried,  and  here  is  the  result  of 
my  effort. 

Literature,  that  is  worth  while,  is  a  record  of  those  ex- 
periences and  those  ideals  of  humanity  that  are  of  suffi- 
cient value  to  make  them  worthy  of  being  perpetuated ; 
and  it  is  the  business  of  the  study  and  teaching  of  litera- 
ture in  our  public  schools  to  make  the  future  experiences 
and  the  ideals  of  humanity  better  than  the  experiences 
and  the  ideals  of  the  past  have  ever  been. 

I  am  well  aware  that  this  definition  of  literature  and 
of  its  purpose  as  an  educative  factor  in  our  public 
schools  will  be  deemed  far  too  utilitarian  by  many  who 
read  these  lines.  But  my  notion  is  that  this  judgment 
will  not  be  lasting,  and  that  the  more  the  subject  is 
considered  from  this  viewpoint,  the  clearer  the  truth 
will  appear. 

Because,  the  fact  is  that  there  have  been  an  infinite 
number  of  fallacies  held  in  the  past  on  this  subject  of 
literature,  and  its  mission  to  mankind.  For  the  most 
part,  these  may  all  be  massed  in  a  single  group;  and 
all  the  wrong-goings,  both  in  the  making  and  accepting 
of  literature,  so  called,  may  be  summed  up  on  this  one 
change,  namely,  the  counting  of  form  as  substance,  the 
mistaking  of  a  graven  image  for  the  living  spirit  of  God. 

What  mountains  of  alleged  literature  are  plucked  up 
and  cast  into  the  sea  of  oblivion  by  such  an  analysis ! 
What  multitudes  of  its  makers  are  engulfed  at  the  same 
time,  and  how  they  all  sink  out  of  sight  together !  All 
the  sticklers  for  mere  form,  all  the  copyists  and  imita- 
tors, all  the  writers  of  words  for  words'  sake,  all  the 


298        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

inventors  of  high-sounding  phrases  which  have  been 
reckoned  great  only  because  of  their  sonority,  all  the 
word  painters  whose  chief  aim  it  has  been  to  startle  or 
astound,  all  the  "  retailers  of  platitudes  delivered  in  an 
orotund  voice"  —  all  of  these,  and  of  those  like  them, 
are  swept  away  so  that  the  places  that  once  knew  them 
will  know  them  no  more  forever. 

All  of  which  means  that  art  for  art's  sake,  so  far  as 
literature  is  concerned,  is  a  fraud,  that  is,  counting 
this  phrase  as  it  is  ordinarily  understood,  namely,  the 
formulating  of  anything,  with  no  purpose  beyond  that 
of  the  form  of  the  thing  formed.  Language  was  in- 
tended to  express  ideas,  and  whenever  it  is  div^erted 
from  such  purpose  it  is  misused,  not  to  say  abused.  So 
the  men  who  talk  when  they  have  nothing  to  say,  or 
who  write  merely  to  fill  columns,  are  not  making  litera- 
ture; and  it  is  a  sin  to  make  people  waste  time  listening 
to  the  first,  or  reading  what  the  second  have  set  down, 
merely  spoiling  clean  white  paper  thereby. 

Again,  there  is  ever  so  much  that  has  been  written  and 
said  in  the  past  that  has  served  its  time,  has  had  its  day, 
and  so  is  no  longer  of  worth  to  humanity,  except  as  a 
curiosity,  or  as  a  relic.  As  such,  it  may  be  of  brief  in- 
terest, just  as  mummies  and  fossils  have  a  certain  his- 
torical value.  And  for  such  purpose  there  can  be  no  valid 
objection  to  their  preservation  and  use.  But,  beyond 
this,  they  should  not  be  permitted  to  have  a  place  in  the 
working  outfit  of  modern  life.  Their  sphere  is  in  mu- 
seums and  curiosity  shops.  They  have  reached  the  realm 
of  the  "  has-beens  "  ;  they  are  virtually  dead,  and  for  the 
most  part  the  dead  should  be  buried.  The  grave  is  a 
very  useful  institution  in  this  world,  and  it  is  not  kind  to 
any  one  too  long  to  deprive  it  of  its  dues. 


READING  AND  LITERATURE  299 

This  is  why  the  great  bulk  of  monarchical  Uterature  is 
fast  passing  away  as  a  living  force  in  human  society. 
Shakespeare's  plays,  those  that  have  to  do  chiefly  with 
royalty,  are  no  longer  popular  upon  the  boards,  not  be- 
cause we  have  no  actors  great  enough  to  present  them, 
but  because  the  spirit  of  democracy  has  taken  such  a  hold 
upon  the  minds  of  the  people  of  to-day  that  they  have 
lost  interest  in  what  happened  to  kings  and  queens,  as 
such,  in  the  days  gone  by. 

Not  but  that  Shakespeare  most  successfully  did  his 
work  in  depicting  royalty.  There  is  no  question  about 
that,  or  about  his  great  art  in  doing  what  he  did.  What 
he  wrote  was  once  great  literature.  Both  as  to  form 
and  in  spirit  he  made  a  most  perfect  record  of  the  ex- 
periences and  ideals  of  the  royalty  he  dealt  with.  The 
only  trouble  is  that  many  of  the  experiences  and  ideals 
he  depicted  are  no  longer  worthy  of  being  perpetuated ; 
they  can  no  longer  be  made  to  serve  in  making  the 
experiences  and  ideals  of  democratic  humanity,  now  and 
yet  to  be,  better  than  those  of  monarchical  humanity 
once  were.     That  is  the  crux  of  the  whole  situation. 

These  themes  of  Shakespeare  have  "  lived  their  little 
day." 

"  Passed,  passed  for  us,  forever  passed,  that  once  so  mighty  world, 
Now  void,  inanimate,  phantom  world. 
Embroidered,  dazzling,  foreign  world,  with  all  its  gorgeous  legends, 

myths, 
Its   kings   and   castles   proud,  its   priests  and  warlike   lords  and 

courtly  dames, 
Passed  to  its  charnel  vault,  coffined  with  crown  and  armor  on, 
Blazoned  by  Shakespeare's  purple  page, 
And  dirged  by  Tennyson's  sweet  sad  rhyme." 

This  is  not  saying  that  Shakespeare  and  Tennyson 
have  "forever  passed."     There  is  much  in  them  both 


300       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

that  will  still  abide.  Their  style  will  remain,  although 
that  on  which  much  of  that  style  was  exploited  has 
passed  away.  There  is  also  a  large  amount  of  their 
subject  matter  that  is  still  alive.  Wherever  these  men 
wrote  of  the  fundamental  issues  which  are  common  to 
all  races  and  all  peoples,  in  all  times  and  everywhere, 
they  struck  chords  that  will  never  cease  to  vibrate  while 
the  world  endures,  and  the  style  they  used  in  exploiting 
these  themes  will  never  perish  from  off  the  earth. 

Therefore  there  are  distinctions  among  themes,  in 
the  writings  of  both  these  men,  that  should  always  be 
held  in  mind  by  those  who  would  utilize,  for  all  the 
children  of  all  the  people,  the  experiences  and  ideals 
that  these  authors  have  made  a  record  of.  The  prin- 
ciples involved  in  the  issue  are  very  simple,  and  they 
are  all  plain  to  him  that  understandeth.  All  of  Shake- 
speare, or  Tennyson,  or  any  other  authors,  that  can  be 
of  use  in  making  better  men  and  women  than  have  ever 
yet  been — all  these  things  are  of  value,  and  will  con- 
tinue to  be  valuable  just  as  long  as  they  can  successfully 
accomplish  the  work  whereunto  they  are  sent.  Beyond 
that  they  are  of  little  use,  save  as  relics.  For  art's  sake 
alone  they  are  of  small  value.  So  long  as  they  can 
help  in  making  a  finer  and  grander  humanity  they  will 
live,  and  justly  so. 

These  principles  apply  to  the  makers  of  literature 
and  their  product  in  all  ages  and  climes,  and  they  need 
to  be  kept  especially  in  mind  by  all  teachers  of  literature, 
particularly  those  who  have  to  deal  with  the  children  of 
all  the  people.  Bring  any  author,  or  his  work,  to  this 
test,  and  judgment  will  not  be  long  delayed.  The 
question  that  every  teacher  of  literature  should  con- 
stantly keep  in  mind  is :  Will  a  knowledge  of  what  I  am 


READING  AND   LITERATURE  301 

trying  to  impart  make  the  experiences  and  the  ideals  of 
my  pupils  better  than  they  would  otherwise  be  ?  When- 
ever a  teacher  can  honestly  say  yes  to  such  an  interro- 
gation, there  is  no  danger  of  going  wrong  in  the  work 
done  in  the  literature  class,  and  it  is  a  comparatively 
small  affair  whence  comes  the  subject  matter  of  their 
teaching. 

On  the  contrary,  if  the  teacher  of  literature  is  forced 
to  confess,  "  I  fail  to  see  what  good  can  come  from  the 
instructions  I  give,"  then,  indeed,  is  her  lot  a  hard 
one,  and  that  of  her  pupils  is  harder  still.  I  wish  I 
need  not  say  it,  but  I  am  forced  to  record  that,  in  all 
my  observations,  I  have  found  few  teachers  of  literature 
who  have  not  made  the  above  quoted  confession.  As 
a  rule,  teachers  of  literature  in  our  public  schools  teach 
the  pages  of  literary  matter  that  are  required  by  college 
entrance  examinations.  This  they  are  forced  to  do 
by  the  system  they  work  under,  and  over  which  they 
have  no  control.  In  large  part,  the  work  they  are 
forced  to  do  consists. in  compelling  their  pupils  to  mem- 
orize the  names  of  authors  and  what  books  they  have 
written,  with  dates  to  match.  Perhaps  a  few  excerpts 
from  each  author  are  read,  but  the  author-book-and-date- 
lists  are  so  numerous  and  extended,  and  committing 
them  to  memory  is  such  an  arduous  task,  that  there 
is  time  for  little  else. 

Can  any  one  tell  how  such  work  as  this  will  make  the 
experiences  and  ideals  of  those  who  do  this  drudgery 
better  than  they  would  otherwise  be  ?  The  question  is 
fair,  and  pertinent,  and  it  ought  to  be  answered. 

There  is  no  more  powerful  influence  for  good  that 
can  be  brought  to  bear  upon  a  pupil  than  can  come 
through  the  proper  study   of   literature.     To  teach  a 


302        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

child  to  love  books,  to  know  authors  (just  a  few,  per- 
haps, and  these  not  necessarily  the  same  for  any  two 
pupils)  through  and  through,  is  a  work  that  angels 
might  envy.  The  living  voice  perishes,  but  the  printed 
page  remains.  And  to  lead  a  pupil  to  get  out  of  books 
what  living  and  loving  souls  have  put  into  them,  to  teach 
boys  and  girls  so  that  books  shall  be  their  dearest  friends 
—  this  is  something  worth  while,  this  is  what  makes 
the  teaching  of  literature  an  art  filled  with  divine 
possibilities. 

And  the  first  requisite  for  the  attainment  of  such 
results  is  that  the  teacher  love  the  literature  that 
she  tries  to  teach.  Emerson  says  that  "  he  only  can 
give  who  has,"  and  if  a  teacher  has  no  love  for  the 
literature  she  tries  to  give  her  pupils  a  knowledge  of, 
she  cannot  succeed  in  getting  them  to  love  it.  And 
unless  they  love  it,  all  the  work  they  do  in  it  amounts  to 
little  or  nothing.  It  is  all  a  study  of  "  words,  words," 
as  Hamlet  has  it,  and  these  are  as  useless  to  the  pupil 
as  those  on  the  page  before  him  were  to  the  Prince  of 
Denmark. 

There  is  all  the  difference  between  life  and  death  in 
the  two  ways  of  teaching  and  pursuing  this  study.  One 
way,  there  are  live  human  beings,  with  hearts  that 
pulsate  with  warm  red  blood,  and  whose  souls  shine 
through  speaking  eyes.  The  other  way  there  are 
corpses.  The  teacher  who  can  teach  the  literature  she 
herself  loves  will  lead  her  pupils  into  the  living  way. 
Those  teachers  who  pursue  cyclopedic  methods  will  drive 
their  pupils  through  literary  graveyards. 

The  result  of  all  study  and  teaching  of  literature 
should  be  to  inspire  the  student  along  the  lines  of  what 
is  revealed  in  the  literature  studied  and  taught.     No 


READING  AND  LITERATURE  303 

book  read,  no  poem  conned,  should  stop  with  itself. 
They  should  all  "continue  beyond."  They  should  give 
to  the  student  power  "  to  make  for  himself  poems,  essays, 
histories,"  or  whatsoever.  And  this  should  be  some- 
thing far  and  away  beyond  mere  imitation.  Both  pupil 
and  teacher  should  ever  keep  in  mind  that  "  Rhymes 
and  rhymers  pass  away,"  and  that  "  poems  distilled  from 
poems  "  count  for  naught.  Need  it  be  said  that  such 
results  can  never  come  from  repeating  what  is  in  a  text- 
book, be  the  same  never  so  good.**  Nor  can  they  be 
reached  by  any  teacher  who  teaches  only  what  literature 
she  is  required  to  teach  by  the  course. 

Again,  it  needs  to  be  said  that  the  literature  taught  to 
all  the  children  of  all  the  people  must  be  democratic, 
both  in  form  and  in  spirit.  Truly,  our  teachers  and 
pupils  need  to  heed  the  lines  :  — 

"  Come,  Muse,  migrate  from  Greece  and  Ionia ; 
Cross  out,  please,  those  immensely  over-paid  accounts. 
On  the  rocks  of  your  snowy  Parnassus 
Placard  '  removed '  and  '  to  let.'  " 

Good  !  But  when  will  our  teachers  and  pupils  be  per- 
mitted to  heed  the  suggestion  ?  Parnassus  was  good  in 
its  day,  and  much  of  what  it  stood  for  has  been  trans- 
lated into  current  language  and  philosophy ;  but  Par- 
nassus for  its  own  sake  can  be  excused,  for  the  most 
part,  from  the  curricula  of  the  major  part  of  all  the 
children  of  all  the  people. 

Then,  too,  there  is  danger  that  the  teaching  of  litera- 
ture, upon  formal  lines,  will  make  mere  querulous  critics 
of  our  students.  How  often  have  we  seen  this !  Only 
to-day  a  mother  said  to  me,  when  speaking  of  her  son 
who  was  away  at  school :  "  I  have  gotten  so  that  I  al- 
most hesitate  to  write  letters  to  my  boy,  for  he  keeps 


304        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

coming  back  at  me  with  nagging  criticism  of  my  letters 
to  him."  Surely,  the  teaching  of  literature  which  thus 
results  is  wide  of  the  mark.  The  point  is  really  too  con- 
temptible to  be  worthy  of  notice,  and  my  only  reason  for 
mentioning  it  is  that  it  is  so  shamefully  common.  "  Re- 
form it  altogether,"  ye  teachers  of  this  sort. 

Beyond  question,  the  future  success  of  this  republic  is 
dependent  on  the  literature  it  shall  produce.  If  this  is 
live,  strong,  far-reaching,  and  deep-descending,  of  a  qual- 
ity that  touches  the  hearts  of  the  masses  and  stimu- 
lates them  to  the  best  there  is  in  themselves,  anywhere, 
everywhere,  then  this  nation  is  safe,  and  it  will  grow  in 
the  right  way,  continually.  It  is  in  our  public  schools  that 
the  seed  that  will  produce  such  literature  must  be  sown  ; 
and  this  seed  must  be  of  a  sort  that  will  take  root  and 
grow  in  the  hearts  of  all  the  children  of  all  the  people, 
and  bear  fruit  in  their  lives  as  citizens  of  this  republic. 
Nothing  less  will  serve. 

Here,  then,  teacher,  pupil,  is  the  test  to  bring  to  all  study 
and  teaching  of  literature  in  our  public  schools  :  Will  it 
serve  on  these  strong  and  fundamental  lines  that  pertain 
to  successful  citizenship  ?  If  what  you  study  or  teach 
will  do  this,  it  is  well,  and  no  one  will  care  to  ask  further 
questions.  But  if  not,  then  stop  taking  public  money 
for  your  work,  which  is  of  no  public  use.  Work  for  a 
merely  selfish  end  if  you  choose  to  do  so,  but  be  honest 
enough  not  to  make  the  general  fund  support  you. 

What  our  public  schools  need,  in  the  matter  of  teach- 
ing literature,  is  that  the  teachers  be  freed  from  the 
bondage  that  now  holds  them  in  its  thralldom.  There  is 
scarce  a  teacher  now  engaged  in  this  special  work  who 
could  not,  and  who  would  not,  do  most  excellent  service 
in  her  peculiar  calling  if  she  could  be  permitted  to  teach 


READING  AND  LITERATURE  305 

what  literature  she  loves  to  teach,  rather  than  what  she 
is  compelled  to  teach  in  order  to  serve  a  purpose  that  is 
really  foreign  to  her  undertaking  and  desire. 

But,  it  is  said,  there  must  be  some  standard ;  we  must 
have  some  common  work,  or  how  shall  we  know  what 
to  examine  our  pupils  in  ?  Nonsense !  Why  should  I 
be  compelled  to  post  myself  so  that  I  may  answer  your 
questions?  Why  not  you  answer  mine?  Why  should 
the  boy  who  stands  before  the  professor  to  be  examined 
in  literature  be  forced  to  give  proof  of  a  knowledge  of 
books  that  the  professor  is  learned  in  ?  Give  the  boy  a 
chance  to  tell  what  he  knows  about  books,  any  books 
that  he  has  read,  and  of  which  he  can  speak,  and  it  is 
easy  enough  to  make  up  one's  mind  as  to  his  abilities 
to  do  future  work.  It  is  the  tyranny  of  the  powers 
that  be,  and  not  a  lack  of  receptive  power  on  the  part 
of  pupils,  that  retards  the  true  study  of  literature  in  our 
public  schools.  And  let  such  be  anathema !  Let  there 
be  a  democracy  in  the  study  and  love  of  real  literature 
among  all  the  children  of  all  the  people,  and  so  will  the 
procession,  all  of  it,  move  on. 


CHAPTER   XXXIII 

SOME   THINGS   ABOUT  METHODS 

A  Little  at  a  Time  and  Slow  —  Practical  Test  advised  for  Each 
Reader  once  more — Author's  Experience  —  Personally  paying 
for  Failures  to  really  teach  —  "  Hands  off!  " —  Original  Methods 
the  Test  of  the  Power  of  the  True  Teacher —  Such  Methods  to  be 
encouraged  in  all  Teachers — Concrete  Case  cited  —  The  Real 
Mission  of  Method  —  Lack  of  Faith  in  ourselves  the  Trouble 
here  —  The  Voice  of  God  in  our  own  Souls  —  The  Proper  Use 
of  "  Authorities  "  —  The  Court  of  Final  Appeal. 

So  much  has  been  written  and  said  upon  the  subject 
of  methods  in  teaching  that  one  hesitates  to  add  even  a 
straw  to  the  burden  now  on  the  camel's  back,  which  is 
already  well-nigh  broken  with  its  load.  And  yet  I  can- 
not refrain  from  piling  my  forkful  on  the  top  of  all. 
But  this  shall  be  general,  and  not  particular;  and  so, 
perhaps,  it  will  prove  to  be  less  weighty. 

The  chief  word  that  I  want  to  say  on  this  subject  I 
phrase  in  the  vernacular  as  follows  :  "  Don't  give  it  to 
the  children  too  fast."  It  is  by  disregarding  this  simple 
principle  of  pedagogy  that  more  poor  teaching  is  done 
than  in  any  other  one  way  that  I  know  anything  about. 

Any  teacher  can  be  brought  to  realize  this  fact  by 
trying  to  teach  a  pupil  to  do  some  concrete  thing  that 
must  be  done  just  right  in  order  to  be  successful  at  all. 
For  instance,  suppose  you  try  to  teach  some  one  (any  one 
will  do)  how  to  tie  a  square  knot  with  a  string,  and  to 
do  it  right,  every  time.     Try  that,  some  day,  and  watch 

306 


SOME  THINGS  ABOUT  METHODS  307 

your  process,  if  you  succeed  in  getting  good  results. 
Yes,  watch  your  process,  anyhow. 

Or,  what  is  a  better  test  still  —  far  better  —  take  a 
class  of  a  dozen  or  so  and  try  to  teach  them,  all  at  the 
same  time,  how  to  tie  a  square  knot,  and  see  how  you 
will  succeed.     Watch  your  process  there,  too. 

This  experiment  will  reveal  to  you  your  shortcomings 
as  to  methods  in  teaching  better  than  anything  I  have 
ever  tried.  If  you  can  take  a  class  of  twelve  children 
who  do  not  know  how  to  tie  a  square  knot,  and  at  a 
single  lesson  get  half  of  them  so  that  they  can  tie  such 
a  knot  right,  every  time,  you  are  a  wonderful  teacher. 
And  your  trial  will  show  you  the  necessity  of  definite- 
ness  of  direction  and  slowness  of  procedure  as  you 
never  saw  it  before,  or  I  am  greatly  mistaken. 

We  tell  our  pupils  too  many  different  things  at  once, 
and  so  muddle  them.  This  begets  in  them  the  habit  of 
trying  to  do  what  they  only  partly  understand  how  to 
do,  makes  them  indefinite  in  their  actions,  uncertain  in 
their  purposes,  and  untruthful  in  their  work.  And  all 
this  is  bad. 

I  learned  this  lesson  of  "not  too  fast"  or  "not  too 
much  at  once  "  when  I  was  in  a  factory  that  I  once 
owned  and  operated.  We  employed  a  large  number 
of  boys  in  the  mill,  and  they  all  had  to  be  taught  to 
operate  the  machines  they  had  to  handle,  so  as  to  get 
good  work  out  of  them.  Unless  they  did  this  success- 
fully, they  ruined  the  lumber  they  put  through  the 
machines,  and  all  that  they  spoiled  I  had  to  pay  for ! 
And  it  was  a  marvel  how  much  they  could  spoil,  till  I 
learned  how  to  teach  them  as  they  needed  to  be  taught 
in  order  to  get  good  results.  Nor  was  it  till  my  book- 
keeper showed  me  a  balance  sheet  that  proved  how  we 


308        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

were  losing  money,  that  I  began  to  study  my  methods 
and  to  see  right  where  the  trouble  lay.  Such  study 
showed  me  that  the  loss  was  nearly  all  my  own  fault. 
I  had  not  taught  the  boys  well  how  to  do  their  work. 
I  had  given  it  to  them  too  fast,  and  too  much  at  a  time ; 
and  they  were  a  lot  of  slouchy  workmen,  turning  out 
imperfect  work,  the  loss  on  which  came  out  of  my 
pocketbook. 

If  all  teachers  had  to  pay  for  their  failures  to  teach 
well,  out  of  their  own  pockets,  we  should  have  far  better 
work  done  in  our  schoolrooms  than  we  now  have.  The 
pocketbook  nerve  is  very  sensitive  to  losses,  and  it  has 
a  way  of  demanding  a  repair  of  leaks  that  is  very  salu- 
tary. Try  teaching  some  concrete  thing,  to  some  one 
whose  failure  to  arrive  will  cost  you  money,  and  then  you 
will  learn  the  chief  things  that  pertain  to  "  methods  "  in 
teaching. 

And  on  the  heels  of  this  comes  the  direction  "  hands 
off !  "  Ah  !  That  is  the  hardest  of  all.  It  is  so  much 
easier  to  do  a  thing  ourselves  than  it  is  to  teach  some 
one  else  how  to  do  it,  that  we  are  all  apt  —  so  apt  —  to 
take  things  into  our  own  hands  and  settle  it  that  way. 
But  this  is  all  wrong.  Hands  off!  Not  till  you  can 
teach  with  your  hands  tied  —  I  could  almost  say  with 
your  tongue  tied  —  will  you  be  a  first-class  teacher. 

I  saw  some  excellent  examples  of  "  hands  off  "  work 
in  a  manual  training  school  I  visited  a  short  time  ago. 
The  teacher  stood  at  his  desk  and  told  the  boys  what  — 
just  what  —  to  do.  He  gave  his  directions  with  the 
utmost  explicitness,  in  simple  language  that  every  pupil 
could  comprehend,  and  he  gave  them  but  one  at  a 
time.  More  than  that,  he  was  sure  that  every  pupil 
in  his   class  had   done   exactly   what  he  was  told   to 


SOME  THINGS  ABOUT  METHODS  309 

do,  just  as  he  was  told  to  do  it,  before  he  proceeded 
to  the  next  step. 

And  it  did  require  so  much  patience  and  such  careful 
telling  to  get  these  results  from  all  the  pupils !  I  stood 
by,  and  it  was  such  a  trial  to  me  to  keep  my  own  hands 
off.  A  boy  near  me  was  so  awkward.  I  am  sure  there 
was  no  possible  wrong  way  that  he  did  not  blunder  into 
before  he  got  the  right  way  the  teacher  was  trying  for. 
But  he  finally  got  it.  And  he  got  it  himself.  That's 
the  point.     And  so  he  could  get  it  again,  the  next  time. 

And  I  was  once  in  a  class  in  German  where  there  was 
never  to  be  a  word  of  English  spoken,  come  what  might. 
There  came  up  a  new  word  in  the  lesson,  which  no 
pupil  knew  the  meaning  of.  And  it  would  have  been 
so  easy  for  the  teacher  to  turn  her  English  tongue 
loose,  and  tell  her  pupils  the  meaning.  But,  bless 
her  dear  life,  she  knew  enough  to  keep  her  English 
tongue  tied.  And  with  what  little  German  her  pupils 
were  masters  of  (for  it  was  a  "  beginning  class ")  she 
went  to  work  to  get  to  them  the  idea  which  the  new 
word  was  set  to  convey.  And  if  you  could  have  seen 
that  class,  all  with  knitted  brows,  and  eyes  focused  on 
the  teacher  as  she  talked  to  them  in  German,  you  would 
have  learned  a  great  lesson  in  pedagogy,  in  this  matter  of 
keeping  hands  off.  But  she  won,  did  this  teacher  ;  and 
when  she  did,  her  class  knew  something.  How  easy  it 
would  have  been  to  have  said,  "  Look  it  up."     Bah  ! 

The  art  of  manipulation  cannot  be  acquired  by  having 
some  one  else  move  your  hands  for  you.  You  must  move 
them  yourself.  That  is  God's  way  of  teaching  how  to 
do  things.  The  wise  teacher  will  make  note  of  this  and 
act  accordingly. 

Hands  off ! 


3IO       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

Another  cautionary  word  needs  to  be  said  .regarding 
the  different  ways  of  treating  different  pupils  in  the 
same  class  or  grade.  A  concrete  instance  will  illustrate 
what  I  mean.  I  once  saw  a  class  in  arithmetic  working 
on  the  subject  of  subtraction.  The  teacher  was  putting 
forth  her  every  energy  to  have  her  pupils  master  the 
principle  of  **  borrowing,"  and  they  were  doing  their  best 
to  follow  as  she  led.  But  in  spite  of  all  she  could  do 
there  were  some  members  of  the  class  who  could  not 
grasp  the  philosophy  of  what  was  done.  She  was  an 
excellent  teacher,  full  of  resources,  and  apt  in  illustra- 
tion, and  she  did  her  best ;  but  it  all  went  for  nothing 
with  the  "  slow  ones." 

After  the  class  was  dismissed  we  talked  it  over,  and 
presently  I  said :  "  Why  not  tell  these  helpless  ones 
just  what  specific  thing  to  do  in  order  to  obtain  the  re- 
sult, and  let  it  go  at  that,  so  far  as  these  pupils  are  con- 
cerned y 

"  I'll  try  it,"  the  teacher  said.  And  she  did.  She 
asked  the  "shorts"  to  stay  after  school  with  her  a  few 
minutes  (not  to  disgrace  them,  but  for  help),  and  then  I 
watched  to  see  what  she  would  do.  And  here  is  what 
she  did :  She  took  a  not-too-hard  problem,  to  start  on, 
and  said :  "  Now  when  the  top  figure  is  less  than  the 
bottom  one,  call  the  top  one  ten  more  than  it  really  is ; 
then  take  the  bottom  one  away  from  this  bigger  number, 
and  write  the  difference  in  the  same  column,  under  them. 
Then  call  the  next  lower  figure  at  the  left  one  more  than 
it  is,  subtract  it  from  the  figure  over  it,  and  set  down  the 
answer,  and  so  on." 

When  she  gave  this  last  direction,  namely,  to  call  the 
next  left-hand  lower  figure  one  more,  she  looked  at  me 
with  a  sort  of  reckless,  I-don't-care-if-you-are-here  wink, 


SOME  THINGS  ABOUT  METHODS  311 

and  whispered,  under  her  breath,  "That's  the  way  I 
always  do  myself,  and  it  works  all  right! "  and  went  ahead 
with  her  work.  And  then,  mirabile  dictu,  in  ten  minutes 
from  that  time,  after  working  faithfully  with  the  boys 
with  this  method,  she  had  those  pupils  actually  subtract- 
ing and  getting  correct  answers,  every  time.  The  children 
were  so  astonished  they  hardly  knew  themselves,  and  they 
left  the  schoolroom  kicking  up  their  heels  with  delight. 
I  watched  them,  and  saw  them  stop  at  the  first  corner, 
sit  down  on  the  curbstone,  and  together  try  a  problem, 
all  by  themselves.  Doubtless  they  were  curious  to  see  if 
the  plan  would  work  away  from  the  schoolhouse.  I  am 
sure  they  found  it  would. 

Does  any  one  object  to  this .-'  No  sensible  soul  will  do 
so.  Not  that  I  would  advocate  this  method  of  teaching 
subtraction  to  all  children.  For  those  who  can  compre- 
hend the  analysis  of  the  process,  such  work  is  good. 
But  for  those  who  cannot,  the  "  easy  way  "  is  far  better 
than  none.  The  method  this  teacher  used,  in  this  case, 
involves  a  principle  that  goes  a  long  way  in  the  practical 
work  done  in  the  schoolroom.  Far  better  is  it  that  these 
slow  ones  should  go  home  happy,  and  able  to  do  something, 
than  that  they  should  leave  their  schoolroom  discouraged, 
or  perhaps  disgraced,  and  so  generally  "  at  outs  "  with 
what  they  were  asked  to  do  that  they  will  hardly  even 
try  to  do  anything  at  all. 

And  so,  in  point  of  fact,  this  matter  of  method  resolves 
itself  into  a  very  simple  proposition,  namely,  to  do  for 
each  pupil  what  the  needs  of  each  pupil  require  should 
be  done,  using  our  best  endeavors  to  find  out  just  what 
these  needs  are,  and  the  utmost  of  our  ingenuity  to  meet 
the  requirements  which  the  situation  calls  for.  The 
teacher  who  will  work  by  such  method  will  teach,  if  she 


312        ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

has  any  aptitude  for  the  calling.  If  she  hasn't,  she  ought 
not  to  be  tolerated  in  the  schoolroom,  no  matter  what 
method  she  may  use,  or  where  she  may  have  acquired 
it.  The  teacher  who  has  to  "consult  the  authorities," 
for  every  move  she  makes,  who  "  has  no  head  of  her 
own  "  for  her  work,  had  better  try  some  other  calling. 
She  ought  not  to  be  permitted  to  teach  in  our  public 
schools,  no  matter  how  many  diplomas  she  may  be 
possessed  of,  or  how  fine  a  written  examination  she  can 
pass. 

There  can  be  no  itemized  method  of  pedagogy  that 
will  be  of  universal  application  to  all  the  children  of  all 
the  people.  We  can  all  get  "  helps  and  hints  "  from  a 
thousand  and  one  sources.  But  the  whole  business  can 
never  be  put  into  a  book,  neither  can  it  be  gotten  out 
of  a  book.  Here  is  a  place  where  manipulation  can 
only  be  partially  transmitted.  The  ultimate  art  must 
be  individually  acquired,  and  personally  exercised ; 
and  neither  acquirement  nor  exercise  can  be  obtained 
without  practice  upon  the  real  thing,  with  flesh  and 
blood  children,  in  an  actual  schoolroom.  That  is  the 
final  word  about  methods  in  teaching. 

Any  method  that  can  be  used  as  a  servant  to  both 
teacher  and  pupil  is  good,  just  so  long  as  it  knows  its 
place,  and  will  keep  it.  Any  method  is  bad,  no  matter 
where  it  has  come  from,  no  odds  who  originated  it,  if  it 
becomes  a  master,  and  holds  its  user  in  bondage.  And 
here  is  where  teachers  should  arrive  through  their  own 
inspiration.  Here  is  where  they  should  prove  them- 
selves greater  than  any  or  all  "  authorities,"  and  should 
stand  in  their  own  strength,  sufficient  unto  themselves, 
and  to  the  work  that  is  given  into  their  own  hands. 
Well  did  Jesus  say  "  call  no  man  master,"  and  there  is 


SOME  THINGS  ABOUT  METHODS  313 

no  place  where  His  words  are  more  forceful  than  to  a 
teacher  in  a  schoolroom. 

The  chief  trouble  with  us  all,  on  this  score,  is  that  we 
have  been  unwilling,  or  afraid,  to  do  our  own  work  in 
our  own  way.  It  has  been  too  much  bother  for  us  to 
worship  God  with  our  own  work,  as  we  know  we  ought 
to ;  and  it  is  so  much  easier  for  us  to  bow  down  to  some 
man-made  or  system-made  idol  that  we  can  easily  get 
next  to,  than  it  is  to  work  out  our  own  salvation  with 
fear  and  trembling.  There  is  the  rub.  We  have  put 
our  faith  in  textbooks,  and  in  professors  of  this  or  that, 
and  in  the  dicta  of  Associations,  and  in  what  those  in 
authority  have  said  when  in  conventions  assembled  — 
in  all  these  things,  rather  than  in  the  voice  of  God  in 
our  own  souls  !  And  therein  lies  the  essential  cause  of 
most  failures  to  teach  school  well,  or  to  be  possessed  of 
methods  that  will  really  result  in  first-class  work. 

All  these  authorities,  etc.,  are  good  as  means.  They 
are  worthless  as  ultimates.  The  true  student  of  methods 
of  pedagogy  will  forage  over  the  whole  field  of  the 
experiences  and  ideals  of  other  teachers ;  will  listen  to 
them  all,  and  note  well  what  they  say,  will  observe  them 
all  and  note  well  what  they  do.  Then,  gently,  but  with 
undeniable  will,  he  will  free  himself  from  all  bonds 
that  would  hold  him,  and  teach  as  his  own  soul  tells 
him  he  ought  to.  It  takes  nerve  to  do  this,  but  it 
is  done.  I  have  seen  it  done  more  than  once;  yes, 
many  times.  What  we  need  is  to  have  it  the  rule 
rather  then  the  exception. 

Here  endeth,  then,  the  chapter  on  methods.  You 
can  make  them  for  yourself.  No  one  can  make  them 
for  you.  Others  can  suggest,  and  perhaps  direct,  but 
you  must  ultimately  settle  the  business   for   yourself. 


314        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

The  only  question  is,  will  you  do  it  ?  If  you  try  it,  be 
wise  and  not  foolish  in  your  doing.  Don't  be  a  narrow 
bigot  in  the  premises,  and  make  your  bigotry  an  excuse 
for  doing  just  as  you  please,  regardless  of  everything 
and  everybody.  That  is  far  worse  than  merely  follow- 
ing a  leader.  The  proof  of  the  worth  of  your  methods 
(and  they  must  be  brought  to  the  trial)  is  your  success 
in  keeping  all  the  children  in  your  school,  and  in  doing 
the  best  possible  work  for  each  one  of  them  while  they 
are  there.  If  you  can  do  that,  your  methods  are  good, 
no  matter  where  they  have  come  from.  If  you  fail  to 
do  this,  your  methods  are  faulty.  There  is  no  appeal 
from  this  conclusion.  God  is  the  judge,  and  there  is  no 
higher  court. 


CHAPTER   XXXIV 

MORALS   AND   RELIGION 

The  Jungle  this  Theme  leads  into — Morals  easier  to  agree  upon 
than  Religion,  in  the  Public  Schools  —  Coeducation  —  Social 
Mingling  in  the  Public  Schoolrooms  —  The  Blessing  to  Democracy 
of  Such  Fact  —  Sectarianism  and  Proselyting  no  Place  in  Schools 
for  all  the  Children  of  all  the  People  —  The  Love  of  Righteous- 
ness —  "  He  maketh  all  Things  by  Number  "  —  Horace  Mann  on 
the  Purpose  of  Democratic  Education  —  How  School  Work  can 
Foster  all  these  Things  —  A  "  Square  Deal  "  possible  here  — 
Where  Unfairness  creeps  in  —  The  Bible  in  the  Public  Schools  — 
Some  Suggestions  on  this  Point —  Special  Work  for  the  N.  E.  A. 

—  Denominational  Hymns  no  Place   in   Public  School  Singing 

—  How  the  Jungle  may  be  made  a  Highway  fit  for  All  to  travel 
in  with  Profit  and  Joy —  "Vital  Religious  Fire"  the  Real  Fusing 
Element  for  Democracy. 

I  AM  well  aware  that  I  am  entering  a  jungle  of  thought 
and  feeling  when  I  set  out  to  say  even  a  few  words  about 
morals  and  religion  in  our  public  schools.  Concerning 
the  first,  the  way  is  open  and  fairly  well  trod  for  a  space ; 
but  regarding  the  second,  there  is  largely  undergrowth 
and  tangle  where  some  day  there  will  be  a  royal  road  to 
God.  If  I  can  help,  just  a  little,  in  making  a  prelimi- 
nary survey  for  such  a  public  highway  on  these  two  sub- 
jects, one  which  all  the  children  of  all  the  people  can 
travel  in,  I  should  be  glad  and  thankful  beyond  all  telling. 

In  both  these  matters,  the  underlying  principle  is  as 
simple  as  all  great  basic  motive  forces  always  are.  The 
main  issue  is  what  will  make  good  citizens  of  all  the 
children  of  all  the  people.     Whatever  will  do  this  has  a 

315 


3l6        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

rightful  place  in  our  public  schools,  both  as  regards 
morals,  and,  equally  so,  as  regards  religion.  The  only 
pinch  comes  when  we  attempt  to  consider  what  the  spe- 
cific things  are  that  will  bring  about  the  desired  results. 
There  is  where  we  quarrel  and  part  company,  so  many 
of  us.  There  is  where  all  the  friction  arises.  These  are 
the  things  that  obstruct  the  way  and  make  the  whole 
subject  a  jangle  of  discord  and  distrust,  rather  than  a 
place  of  harmony  and  good  faith. 

But  now,  is  it  not  possible  for  people  who  dwell  to- 
gether in  love  in  so  many  other  ways  and  places,  to  come 
under  the  same  spirit  in  these  regards .''  It  surely  seems 
as  though  it  ought  to  be  so.  Anyhow,  let  us  reason  to- 
gether over  the  situation  for  a  few  pages,  and  then  see. 

In  the  matter  of  morals  in  school  there  is  not  very 
much  lack  of  agreement.  There  are  still  some  parents 
who  rebel  if  their  children  are  "  made  to  mind "  in 
school,  but  these  are  so  few  and  far  between  that  they 
are  hardly  a  recognizable  factor  in  the  problem.  For 
the  most  part,  our  people  recognize  the  fact  that  obedi- 
ence to  rightful  control  is  a  fundamental  quality  in  a 
good  citizen,  and  hence  they  stand  for  the  cultivation  of 
this  virtue  in  our  public  schools.     So  far,  so  good. 

There  are  also  some  people  who  are  anxious  about 
the  coeducation  issue,  who  suspect  the  results  which 
they  fear  may  come  from  having  boys  and  girls  go  to 
the  same  school.  This  feature  is  chiefly  in  evidence  in 
cities,  especially  in  those  in  which  there  is  a  considerable 
constituency  that  has  high  regard  for  conventional 
ideas  having  their  roots  among  the  aristocracy  across 
the  water.  Among  these,  the  medieval  notion  prevails 
that  sex  is  something  of  a  mistake,  at  best,  and  that  the 
error  should  be  hidden  from  knowledge,  as  far  as  pos- 


MORALS  AND  RELIGION  317 

sible,  especially  amongst  girls.  They  ostensibly  hold 
to  the  her-soul-was-like-a-star-and-dwelt-apart  idea,  the 
ignorance-is-bliss  theory,  for  femininity.  In  some  circles 
this  cult  is  growing  in  this  country,  manifesting  itself 
in  the  genesis  of  the  chaperon,  a  creature  who  was  a 
stranger  to  our  fathers  and  mothers,  who  "  sparked " 
unwatched,  and  were  blameless  ! 

However,  these  need  give  us  but  small  concern. 
God's  eternal  laws  do  not  suffer  to  any  great  extent,  or 
for  long,  at  the  hands  of  society's  peccadillos.  "  Male 
and  female  created  he  them,"  and  there  was  no  mistake 
in  the  act.  That  is  the  way  things  are,  and  they  will 
stay  so.  Boys  and  girls  are  born  into  the  same  family, 
and  it  requires  men  and  women,  both,  to  make  a  suc- 
cessful civilization. 

To  be  sure,  there  may  be  room  for  experiment  "as  to 
whether  it  is  wise  and  best  for  boys  and  girls  to  pursue 
the  same  studies  in  school ;  but  that  can  all  be  provided 
for  under  the  new  order  of  "  electives  "  in  our  schools. 
But  the  individuals  of  each  sex  need  the  modifying,  re- 
straining, stimulating,  and  truly  spiritualizing  influences 
of  their  opposites,  during  the  growing  years  of  their 
lives  in  school.  Of  this  there  can  be  no  doubt,  in  the 
eternal  order  of  things. 

Then  there  is  the  question  of  permitting,  or  forcing, 
children  of  all  social  grades  to  mingle  together  in  the 
same  school.  The  moral  results  of  such  community  are 
not  infrequently  challenged  by  those  who  are  counted 
as  "  our  best  people."  And  that  there  are  some  serious 
issues  involved,  just  here,  is  not  to  be  denied.  But,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  the  dangers  are  few,  and  the  possible 
benefits  to  all  parties  concerned  are  as  many  as  they 
are  great. 


3l8        ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

As  an  exterminator  of  the  class  microbe,  the  public 
school  has  no  equal.  Or,  to  change  the  figure,  the 
public  school  is  the  womb  of  genuine  democracy;  the 
fruitful  soil  which  brings  forth  bountiful  crops  of  true 
brotherhood  and  enduring  fraternity.  It  is  not  a 
leveler,  but  a  builder-up  of  all  parties  concerned.  It 
cuts  out  the  cancers  of  conceit  that  tend  to  destroy  the 
vitality  and  virility  of  wealth  and  aristocracy;  and  it 
burns  away  the  plague-spots  of  prejudice  and  hatred 
that  are  so  deeply  rooted  in  the  body  of  the  rank  and 
file.  It  plants  healthy  love  and  wholesome  respect  for 
all  in  the  hearts  of  all  the  children  of  all  the  people, 
and  as  a  social  force,  for  the  establishment  of  a  civiliza- 
tion based  on  the  eternal  principles  of  truth  and  justice, 
the  world  has  never  seen  its  equal. 

And  these  are  the  things  that  must  never  be  forgotten ; 
nay,  that  must  be  emphasized,  in  all  our  estimates  of 
the  real  value  of  our  public  schools.  All  criticisms  re- 
garding their  faults,  either  as  they  have  been  or  as  they 
now  are,  should  be  tempered,  and  modified,  and  in  large 
measure  excused,  by  our  acknowledgment  of  the  inesti- 
mable blessing  they  have  already  proved  themselves  to 
be  as  makers  of  democracy.  All  their  past  and  present 
shortcomings  are  as  nothing  when  compared  with  the 
great  results  they  have  yielded,  on  the  lines  of  good 
fellowship  and  love,  amongst  all  classes  of  people. 
There  is  not  one  who  reads  these  lines  who  cannot 
verify  the  truth  of  this,  in  his  or  her  own  life.  Think 
of  the  men  and  women,  in  all  ranks  of  life,  whom  you 
now  hold  in  high  esteem  because  of  the  knowledge  of 
them  that  you  gained  in  the  public  school. 

And  whatever  modifications  we  make  in  these  schools, 
let  them  be  by  way  of  intensifying  their  democracy,  of 


MORALS  AND   RELIGION  319 

broadening  their  power  to  make  friends  and  lovers  of 
all  who  enter  their  doors.  Let  us  plan  to  make  them 
include  rather  than  exclude ;  to  gather  all  and  to  reject 
none;  and  to  be  able  and  fit  to  do  all  this  with  the 
utmost  success,  for  the  best  interest  of  all  and  each. 
For  so  shall  our  schools  become  a  moral  force  that  shall 
be  worthy  the  financial  and  patriotic  support  of  every 
citizen,  without  exception. 

A  resident  of  New  York  City  once  said  to  me :  "  Go 
down  to  the  lower  end  and  see  what  we  do  for  the  boys 
and  girls  down  there.  We  take  them  in  by  the  ship- 
load, when  they  don't  know  a  word  of  English,  and  in 
six  months  we  have  them  singing  the  *  Star  Spangled 
Banner '  to  beat  the  band !  "  He  was  right.  And  he 
might  have  gone  on  to  say  that  if  you  would  follow 
these  same  children  up  through  the  schools,  you  would 
presently  find  that  you  could  hardly  tell  them  from  the 
"native  born" — those  who  stayed  by  till  they  got 
through  the  high  school.  Their  twelve  years  of  dis- 
cipline in  this  institution  (which  some  one  has  called  the 
great  American  stomach)  have  digested  them  and  trans- 
formed the  product  into  blood,  bone,  fiber,  and  spirit 
such  as  good  citizens  are  made  of.  A  single  genera- 
tion wipes  out  almost  the  last  vestige  of  the  "  foreign  " 
in  all  such  cases,  and  their  children  are  Americans,  all, 
henceforth.  The  pity  is  that  so  few  of  them  stay  twelve 
years  in  the  public  school.  But  this  fault  is  mending, 
day  by  day. 

So,  on  the  moral  issue,  we  are  doing  well.  We  need 
to  do  as  well  on  the  religious.  The  reason  we  have 
failed  to  do  so,  thus  far,  is  because  of  our  narrowness 
—  not  to  say  bigotry,  to  be  frank  about  it.  We  are  so 
sure  that  we  are  right  and  that  all  others  must  be  wrong 


320       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

in  matters  of  religion,  that  we  are  uncharitable,  and  not 
infrequently  unjust;  sometimes  overbearing,  and  occa- 
sionally tyrannical.  It  is  not  pleasant  to  say  this,  but 
let  the  truth  be  told. 

And  it  is  because  of  these  things,  which  all  religious 
sects,  and  those  who  claim  to  be  not  religious  at  all,  are 
more  or  less  guilty  of,  that  we  get  into  trouble.  If  we 
were  not  all  so  anxious  to  proselyte,  and  to  compel 
everybody  to  come  our  way,  we  should  get  along  well 
enough.  If  we  were  as  willing  to  allow  our  brothers 
and  sisters  under  the  flag  religious  liberty  in  our  schools 
as  great  as  the  political  freedom  that  we  give  them  in 
the  state,  there  would  be  very  little  cause  for  complaint. 
No  teacher  ever  asks  whether  a  child  is  of  democratic, 
republican,  or  mugwump  parentage.  No  teacher  would 
be  permitted  to  teach  the  tenets  of  any  special  political 
party  in  school.  But  this  does  not  bar  the  teaching  of 
patriotism,  of  devotion  to  the  flag,  and  of  love  for  what 
it  stands  for. 

Now  can  we  not  be  equally  broad-minded  and  fair  in 
the  realm  of  rehgion .-'  There  are  certain  basic  princi- 
ples that  are  common  to  all  religions,  just  as  there  are 
certain  patriotic  elements  that  all  political  parties  hold 
in  common.  Why  not  unite  on  these,  and  teach  them 
to  our  children,  and  then  let  them  differentiate  on  the 
holdings  of  sects,  isms,  and  doxies,  later  on  ? 

What  are  these  items  in  common,  religiously  speak- 
ing.^ some  one  asks.  All  I  can  do  is  to  answer  as  it 
seems  to  me,  which  I  am  glad  to  do,  to  the  best  of  my 
ability. 

I  think  that  a  love  of  righteousness,  and  an  honest 
attempt  to  attain  it,  in  all  the  affairs  of  life,  pretty  nearly 
covers  the  whole  ground.     Surely  there  is  no  form  of 


MORALS  AND  RELIGION  321 

religion  which  ought  not  to  include  at  least  so  much; 
and,  given  this,  with  all  it  implies,  we  have  a  good 
foundation  for  anything  special,  or  particular,  that  may 
be  added  to  it,  in  any  or  all  religions.  All  the  reHgious 
teachers  that  I  know  anything  about  agree  on  this ;  and 
if  we  could  bring  all  the  children  of  all  the  people  to 
love  it,  and  lead  them  to  strive,  with  all  their  might,  to 
attain  to  this  standard,  I  am  sure  we  should  have  a 
citizenship  that  would  get  along  pretty  well,  religiously 
and  all  other  ways,  come  what  might. 

My  notion  is,  then,  that  we  can  teach  at  least  so 
much  of  religion  in  our  public  schools,  with  good  results 
for  all,  and  with  bad  results  to  none.  And  with  this  as 
a  basis,  let  the  various  sects  build  thereon,  as  they  can, 
or  may. 

What  do  I  mean  by  righteousness  ?  The  word  speaks 
for  itself.  There  is  a  right  and  a  wrong  to  everything  in 
this  world,  and  righteousness  means  an  alliance  with  the 
first,  in  thought,  and  word,  and  deed;  and  a  rejection  of 
the  last,  continually.  So  far  as  meaning  is  concerned, 
it  is  really  a  very  simple  proposition.  Practically  con- 
sidered, it  may  not  always  be  an  easy  matter  to  deter- 
mine, in  every  case,  and  at  first  hand,  just  what  the 
right  is ;  but  to  constantly  inculcate  a  desire  to  "  know 
the  truth  "  and  to  act  in  accordance  with  its  dictates, 
must  make  for  the  formation  of  character  that  will 
produce  a  most  excellent  foundation  for  religion  of  any 
and  every  sort. 

I  once  saw  an  old  arithmetic  whose  preface  closed 
with  these  words:  "And  now  I  commend  you  to  him 
who  maketh  all  things  by  number."  Good !  I  wish  I 
could  have  studied  arithmetic  with  the  man  who  made 
that  book.     I  am  sure  he  taught  righteousness  to  his 


322   ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

pupils,  and  begot  in  them  a  love  of  the  Author  of  All 
Truth.  When  I  studied  arithmetic,  the  chief  thing  I 
was  taught  was  how  to  find  the  answer.  No  effort  was 
made  to  show  me  what  it  was  all  about  —  the  real  mark 
I  was,  or  should  have  been,  shooting  at  all  the  time. 

That  is  a  great  phrase,  "  maketh  all  things  by  number." 
There  is  a  basic  religion  in  it  from  start  to  finish.  A 
realization  of  what  it  means  will  beget  reverence  and 
awe  and  love  and  true  regard  for  Him  Who  maketh  all 
things  thus.  As  the  children  grow  in  years,  I  believe 
most  of  them  —  all  of  them  who  vibrate  in  that  plane  — 
can  be  led  to  see  this  through  the  means  of  their  arith- 
metical work,  and  so  can  be  brought  into  those  ways  of 
true  religious  experience  and  practice  that  are  derived 
from  this  source.  Let  them  learn  that  all  that  the  most 
powerful  telescope  can  reveal,  all  that  the  most  highly 
magnifying  microscope  brings  to  light,  and  all  in  between, 
and  all  beyond,  either  way  —  that  everything,  everywhere, 
that  we  know  anything  about,  is  "made  by  number," 
perfectly  in  order,  truthful,  righteous,  without  variable- 
ness or  shadow  of  turning.  Is  there  any  doubt  but 
that  the  making  of  such  true  wisdom  a  part  of  the  lives 
of  our  school  children  will  make  them  better  men  and 
women,  better  citizens,  more  anxious  to  bring  their  own 
acts  within  the  laws  of  righteousness,  and  so  within  the 
realm  of  true  religion?  And  can  such  religious  teaching 
do  violence  to  the  doctrines  of  any  sect  in  all  the  world  } 
There  can  be  but  one  answer  to  this  question. 

Horace  Mann  used  to  say  that  we  want  to  rear  "  gen- 
erations of  men  and  women  who  are  above  deciding 
great  and  eternal  principles  upon  low  and  selfish 
grounds."  Will  not  such  teaching  of  arithmetic  as  I 
have  suggested  tend  to  produce  such  a  result? 


MORALS  AND  RELIGION  323 

And  what  is  true  of  arithmetic  is  equally  true  of  any 
and  all  studies  that  have  a  place  in  the  public  school. 
A  child  can  be  led  to  see  the  eternal  order  of  things  on 
the  earth  by  the  study  of  geography  —  things  regarding 
the  physical  construction  of  the  world  and  its  political 
divisions  and  arrangements.  (How  such  a  view  of  this 
study  surpasses  a  mere  memory  knowledge  of  mountains, 
rivers,  states,  and  their  capitals,  merely  as  such.)  His- 
tory can  be  made  to  teach  the  pupil  the  devious  ways  of 
humanity  in  its  upward  struggle  towards  life  and  light. 
(How  much  more  this  is  than  the  memorizing  of  stories 
of  battles  and  the  dates  on  which  they  were  fought.) 
The  study  of  language  and  its  use,  of  literature,  —  of 
both  these,  present  or  past,  so  long  as  there  is  life  in 
what  the  pupils  work  on,  —  of  all  the  sciences,  of  the 
arts  and  trades, —  all  these  studies  can  be  so  conducted 
as  to  impress  the  spirit  of  truth  and  righteousness  upon 
the  student,  practically  upon  all  the  children  of  all  the 
people  in  all  our  schools.  Is  this  not  a  consummation 
devoutly  to  be  wished  ? 

Does  this  mean  the  Bible  in  our  public  schools  ?  some 
one  may  ask.  It  may,  or  it  may  not.  It  all  depends. 
If  the  Bible  can  be  used  in  any  school  to  furnish  the 
growth  and  upbuilding  of  unsectarian  religion,  well  and 
good.  But  not  otherwise.  And  right  there  is  some- 
thing for  all  fair-minded  citizens  of  the  United  States  to 
stop  to  think  about.  What  we  must  all  keep  in  mind  is 
that  these  schools  are  for  all  the  children  of  all  the  peo- 
ple. All  of  the  people  pay  for  them,  and  all  must  have 
"  a  square  deal  "  in  everything  that  pertains  to  them,  re- 
ligion as  well  as  in  everything  else. 

And  it  is  not  a  square  deal  to  take  advantage  of  a  sit- 
uation, and  endeavor  to  make  our  schools  proselyting 


324   ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

religious  institutions,  just  because  there  is  a  majority 
in  them  one  way  or  another.  Our  public  schools  are 
neither  Protestant  institutions  nor  Catholic  institutions, 
nor  are  they  sectarian  institutions  of  any  kind  or  sort. 
Indeed,  much  as  some  people  would  dislike  to  have  it 
said,  it  cannot  be  justly  claimed  that  our  schools  are 
even  Christian  institutions,  in  the  sectarian  use  of  that 
word.  They  are  neither  Christian,  Jew,  nor  Gentile, 
Mohammedan,  nor  Buddhistic.  They  exploit  the  in- 
terests of  no  religious  denomination  of  any  name  or 
order.  And  yet,  for  all  of  this,  they  can  be  truly  con- 
ducted on  genuine  religious  lines. 

Yet  how  often  have  we  seen  our  schools  treated  as  if 
they  were  to  be  conducted  on  denominational  and  sec- 
tarian lines.  And  I  am  ashamed  to  say  that  the  greater 
part  of  such  treatment  has,  so  far,  been  largely  on  one 
side.  The  truth  is,  it  must  be  neither  on  one  side  nor 
the  other.  No  sectarian  teacher  and  no  community  has 
a  right  to  exploit  their  peculiar  tenets  and  beliefs  in  a 
public  school.  To  do  so  is  wrong,  no  matter  who  does  it 
or  how  large  a  majority  may  be  which  backs  up  such 
doing.  The  very  foundation  of  our  Republic  is  based  on 
the  idea  of  religious  freedom,  total  and  absolute ;  and  he 
is  a  traitor  who  would  violate  that  principle  whenever  he 
found  himself  in  a  position  where  he  could  do  so  without 
immediate  danger  of  being  called  down  or  found  out. 

Shall  the  Bible  be  used  in  our  schools  then  ?  Yes,  if 
it  can  be  used  and  not  abused  ;  if  it  can  be  made  to  serve 
the  growth  of  those  things  that  are  common  to  all  re- 
ligions without  producing  prejudice  against  any.  If  it 
can  be  used  for  religion's  sake,  and  not  for  sectarian  pur- 
poses, well  and  good.  This  is  fair  to  all,  it  is  unjust  to 
none,  and  from  this  position  it  seems  to  me  there  can  be 


MORALS  AND   RELIGION  325 

no  appeal  in  the  mind  of  any  truly  patriotic  and  genuinely 
religious  citizen,  no  matter  what  his  particular  sect  or 
creed  may  be.  No  citizen  wishes  to  have  his  own  chil- 
dren proselyted  by  any  sect,  in  or  out  of  public  schools. 
By  the  same  token  let  us  be  fair,  and  not  try  to  do  to 
others  what  we  would  not  like  to  have  others  do  to  us 
and  ours.     That  is  a  "  square  deal,"  and  nothing  else  is. 

It  can  truthfully  be  said  that  the  Bible  contains  a 
great  wealth  of  material  that  can  be  used  in  our  public 
schools,  as  has  been  suggested.  I  know  of  no  book 
in  the  world  which  has  in  it  so  much  of  spiritual  truth 
that  is  of  universal  application  to  all  classes  and  con- 
ditions of  men,  women,  and  children.  But  it  is  also 
true  that,  as  the  various  sects  have  interpreted  some 
parts  of  it,  all  sorts  of  isms  and  dogmas  and  creeds  are 
evolved  from  its  pages.  And  it  is  further  true  that  the 
most  of  our  teachers  have  some  special  sectarian  bias 
(as  it  is  natural  they  should  have,  and  as  there  is  not  the 
least  objection  to  their  personally  having),  and  hence,  if 
they  are  left  to  read  the  Bible  to  their  pupils  as  they 
choose,  they  are  likely  (very  likely,  as  a  matter  of  fact) 
to  attempt  to  transmit  their  particular  creed  notions  to 
their  pupils,  through  the  reading  of  this  book. 

Which  things  being  true,  would  it  not  be  wise  for 
some  good,  sane,  unprejudiced  men  and  women,  repre- 
senting all  sects  and  denominations  and  religions  of  all 
sorts,  to  get  together  and  compile  a  book  of  religious 
readings  for  our  public  schools  which  should  embody 
the  fundamental  ideas  and  principles  that  are  common 
to  all  forms  of  religious  belief.  There  is  plenty  in 
the  Bible  to  fill  such  a  book,  and  there  are  numberless 
things  to  be  found  outside  its  pages  that  are  well  worthy 
of   a   place   in    such   a  volume.      Why   may   not  the 


326        ALL  THE   CHILDREN   OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

National  Educational  Association  take  this  matter  up, 
and  deal  with  it  as  the  situation  demands  ?  Some  insti- 
tution of  wide-extended  influence  ought  to  do  this  work, 
and  I  know  of  none  better  suited  to  the  purpose  than 
the  N.E.A. 

And  this  is  a  work  that  needs  to  be  done.  The 
charge  is  sometimes  made  that  our  schools  lack  the 
religious  element,  and  sometimes  that  the  religious  in- 
struction given  in  them  is  sectarian.  Neither  of  these 
charges  should  be  longer  possible.  And  yet,  as  things 
now  are,  they  can  be  brought  with  a  considerable  degree 
of  truth.  Let  us  make  an  end  of  such  possibility  and 
bring  about  a  condition  in  which  pure  religion  and  un- 
defiled  shall  be  taught  in  all  our  schools,  and  every 
semblance  of  sectarianism  be  banished  from  their  doors. 
Nothing  short  of  this  will  satisfy  the  religious  needs  of 
all  the  people. 

And  what  has  been  said  of  the  religious  readings  in 
our  schools  ought  to  be  said,  with  double  emphasis, 
regarding  the  religious  singing  done  in  them.  No 
denominational  or  sectarian  singing  books  should  be 
permitted  to  be  used  in  our  public  schools.  No  hymns 
that  have  a  doctrinal  or  denominational  bias  should  ever 
be  forced  upon  all  the  children  of  all  the  people ;  that 
is,  such  hymns  should  have  no  place  in  any  public 
schoolroom.  There  are  plenty  of  deeply  religious 
hymns,  hymns  that  breathe  the  spirit  of  truth  and 
righteousness  in  their  every  word  and  line,  hymns  that 
all  religious  people  can  agree  upon  for  our  children 
to  sing,  and  these  should  be  brought  within  their  reach. 
So  let  fit  hymns  be  added  to  fit  religious  readings,  and 
then,  instead  of  the  religious  jungle  that  we  are  now 
floundering  around  in  in  our  public  schools,  we  shall 


MORALS  AND   RELIGION  327 

have  a  highway  straight  through  the  premises,  one  that 
all  the  children  of  all  the  people  can  travel  in  with 
profit  and  delight,  singing  songs  of  all-enfolding  joy  as 
they  go.  What  patriotic  citizen  would  ask  them  to 
march  otherwise  ? 

What  this  nation  needs  above  everything  else  is  to 
be  saturated  through  and  through  with  a  living  reli- 
gious spirit ;  to  be  "  fused  with  vital  religious  fire," 
which  shall  enter  into  and  become  a  part  of  every 
thought  and  word  and  deed  of  every  citizen  of  our 
Republic.  The  place  to  implant  such  virtue  is  in  our 
pubUc  schools.  If  we  can  do  that,  and  do  it  there,  all 
will  be  well.  All  the  sects  have  their  places.  The 
churches  are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be.  Let  them  all 
grow  and  flourish,  each  after  its  own  kind.  For  this 
also  is  ordained.  But  let  not  any  of  them  or  all  of  them 
attempt  to  proselyte  children  to  its  particular  creed 
through  the  means  of  the  public  schools.  Let  these 
things  be,  and  the  problem  of  morals  and  religion  in  our 
public  schools  will  be  solved. 


CHAPTER   XXXV 

THE   COMMON   SENSE   OF   IT  ALL 

Definition  of  Common  Sense  —  Precedent  and  Conventionality  — 
Slow  Progress  of  Conservatism  —  Its  Mission  in  Social  Life  — 
The  Make-up  of  our  Democracy  —  A  Polyglot  People  —  Self- 
interests —  Machinery  and  Wealth  —  The  Aristocracy  and  the 
Proletariat  as  they  face  Each  Other  To-day  —  Labor  and  Capital 
—  Other  Conflicting  Interests  —  The  Function  of  the  Public 
Schools  in  all  this  Chaos  —  Some  Details  that  must  be  strictly 
looked  after  —  The  Past  as  related  to  the  Present  —  What  are 
we  going  to  do  about  it?  —  "  Is  it  a  Dream?" 

Common  sense  is  that  faculty  of  the  human  make-up 
that  insists  that  the  truth  is  good  enough,  and  that 
has  a  way  of  getting  at  the  truth,  regardless  of  prece- 
dent and  conventionalities. 

True,  precedent  and  conventionality  lift  up  their 
voices  and  wail,  and  make  a  great  outcry  whenever  com- 
mon sense  gets  at  the  truth  regardless  of  them  ;  but  in 
spite  of  such  groans  and  tears  and  prognostications  of 
ill,  this  primary  element  of  the  general  soul  steadily  pur- 
sues its  way  on  and  up.  Sometimes  it  moves  "with  in- 
credible slowness,  so  that  with  the  eye  it  is  impossible 
to  tell  which  way  it  is  going,"  as  Caesar  once  remarked 
regarding  the  river  Arar.  Again,  it  reaches  its  goal  like 
a  thunderbolt,  crushing  and  burning  its  way  through 
everything  in  its  path.  Not  death  itself  is  more  relent- 
less or  remorseless  in  its  working  than  is  the  common 
sense  of  the  people,  when  it  once  gets  started,  in  the 
establishment  of  a  truth  which  it  sees  clearly  is  good 
enough. 

328 


THE  COMMON  SENSE  OF  IT  ALL  329 

It  took  common  sense  more  than  two  hundred  years 
to  come  to  the  point  where  it  determined  to  estabHsh  the 
truth  about  slavery  in  this  country.  But  it  made  quick 
and  awful  work  of  it,  once  it  got  at  it.  And  all  the 
while  precedent  and  conventionality  were  working  over- 
time to  prove  to  common  sense  that  it  was  all  wrong, 
and  that  the  truth  in  the  premises  was  not  at  all  as  repre- 
sented. But  common  sense  insisted ;  and  common  sense 
demonstrated  the  truth  of  its  position.  Truly,  the  voice 
of  the  people  is  the  voice  of  God,  if  only  the  noise  we 
hear  be  really  the  people's  voice. 

There  are  other  instances  in  point  that  will  readily 
recur  to  the  reader  without  my  noting  them  here. 
What  I  want  to  say  is,  that  it  is  a  most  excellent  plan 
to  heed  the  voice  of  God  before  it  gets  so  loud  and 
terrible  that  it  blasts  and  annihilates. 

It  is  in  the  hope  of  helping  to  unstop  some  of  the 
deaf  ears,  and  to  open  some  of  the  blind  eyes  of  prece- 
dent and  conventionality,  that  these  pages  have  been 
written.  I  know  that  both  these  ultra-conservative  social 
forces  are  braced  squarely  against  many,  not  to  say 
most,  of  the  positions  taken  in  this  book.  None  the  less, 
common  sense  insists  that  the  truth  is  good  enough,  and 
I  am  perfectly  willing  to  be  brought  to  its  bar  for 
judgment  on  what  I  have  written  or  said.  I  make  no 
plea  for  partiality  in  my  favor,  nor  need  I  ask  that  the 
opposite  side  be  treated  with  no  favoritism.  It  is  simply 
a  case  of  "  May  the  Lord  judge  betwixt  us  twain,"  and 
such  a  bench  is  not  open  to  the  suggestions  of  special 
counsel. 

The  one  persistent  position  that  common  sense  occu- 
pies regarding  the  public  schools  is  that  they  should 
educate  all  the  children  of  all  the  people.     If  they  will 


330       ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

do  this,  the  method  by  which  they  accomplish  the  end 
is  of  small  moment.  But  by  just  so  much  as  they  fail 
to  do  this,  by  just  so  much  will  they  be  brought  into 
judgment  by  the  common  sense  of  the  people ;  and 
by  just  so  much  will  all  inefficient  ways  and  means  be 
swept  out  of  the  path,  and  others  set  up  in  their  places. 
These  things  will  come  in  peace  if  the  right  shall  lead. 
"They  will  sweep  in  storm  if  they  be  denied."  Common 
sense  believes  it  is  better  to  have  them  come  in  peace 
than  to  deny  them  so  long  that  they  will  be  forced  to 
sweep  in  storm  in  order  to  arrive. 

It  is  no  fable  that  the  issues  which  the  last  fifty  years 
have  precipitated  upon  this  nation  are  the  most  momen- 
tous that  any  people  has  ever  faced.  Babel  was  a 
decorous  afternoon  tea  party  compared  with  the  poly- 
glot clamors  that  are  coming  up  all  over  this  land 
from  voices  whose  origins  are  as  diverse  as  the  races  of 
the  earth,  and  whose  shoutings  are  as  varied  as  their 
self-interests  are  multitudinous. 

And  all  this  is  intensified  by  the  intermingling,  in 
every  cry,  of  the  issue  of  the  distribution  of  the  vast 
hoards  of  newborn  wealth  with  which  the  estabUshment 
of  machinery  has  deluged  civilization  since  you  and 
I  came  into  this  world.  On  this  count,  the  cry  is  fast 
rising  to  a  roar,  and  the  voice  of  God  is  evidently  to  be 
heard  therein.  Common  sense  is  insisting  that  the 
truth  is  good  enough  here,  also;  and  it  is  searching 
diligently  for  ways  and  means  by  which  all  may  come 
to  their  own,  even  if  it  has  to  disregard  precedent  and 
conventionality  to  compass  such  result. 

And,  as  of  yore,  these  two  conservative  factors  are 
doing  their  old  work  over  again.  They  are  largely  blind 
and  deaf  to  the  real  issue,  and  persistently  declare  that 


THE  COMMON  SENSE  OF  IT  ALL  331 

what  has  been  must  be,  though  the  heavens  fall  and 
"the  public  be  damned."  They  do  not  put  it  just  that 
way,  but  it  is  the  real  spirit  of  their  position. 

The  wealth  of  the  world  has  been  augmented  by  a 
greater  amount  in  the  last  half  century  than  in  any 
one  thousand  years  of  previous  history.  Men  used  to 
plow,  or  mine,  for  money.  Now  they  exploit  some 
enterprise  that  is  based  on  machinery,  or  some  of  its 
adjuncts,  stock  it  to  the  limit,  and  a  printing  press  does 
the  rest.  And  the  output  of  the  press  goes,  for  the 
most  part,  to  the  men  who  furnish  the  blank  paper 
which  an  imprint  turns  to  gold.  Billions  have  been 
made  in  that  way  since  you  and  I  can  remember,  and 
the  problem  of  what  to  do  about  it  is  still  on.  For  the 
most  part,  these  billions  are  in  the  hands  of  the  few  who 
printed  them,  and  the  many  are  in  a  state  of  unrest 
because  of  the  situation.  Common  sense  sees  a  truth  in 
the  premises,  and  it  is  beginning  to  talk  about it,  out  loud. 

And  back  of  all  this  is  the  independence  of  thought 
and  spirit  on  the  part  of  the  masses,  a  new  situation 
brought  about  by  an  era  of  scientific  thinking,  which 
has  hardly  yet  reached  its  years  of  discretion.  There  is 
much  of  the  bull-in-the-china-shop  in  the  use  of  this  new 
acquirement,  by  the  rank  and  file;  but  that  does  not 
alter  the  facts  in  the  case.  It  is  a  situation  and  not  a 
theory  that  confronts  us;  and  we  cannot  shirk  the 
dominating  question.  What  are  we  going  to  do  about  it  ? 
The  proletariat  can  no  longer  be  hushed  by  an  edict  front 
the  aristocracy.  The  day  of  such  method  is  past,  and 
we  are  not  yet  quite  sure  what  is  to  take  its  place. 
Common  sense  insists  that  the  truth  is  good  enough. 
The  hard  thing  is  to  find  out  how  to  realize  upon  its 
demands. 


332        ALL  THE  CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

With  such  issues  upon  this  nation,  it  is  as  clear  as  the 
noonday  sun  that  special  effort  must  be  made  to  meet 
them,  or  ruin  will  be  upon  us.  And  inasmuch  as  the 
old  method  of  "  might  makes  right "  can  no  longer  be 
maintained  by  a  government  of  the  people,  by  the  peo- 
ple, and  for  the  people,  it  is  thoroughly  apparent  that 
some  way  other  than  the  old  one  must  be  utilized  in 
the  emergency.  It  is  equally  certain  that  the  only  way 
left  is  to  so  establish  righteousness  and  justice  in  the 
hearts  of  all  the  people  that  they  will  stand  squarely  for 
the  upholding  of  the  truths  which  common  sense  insists 
are  good  enough.  Nothing  short  of  this  can  save  us 
long  from  disaster  and  shipwreck. 

And  by  no  other  means  can  righteousness  and  justice 
be  so  successfully  established  in  the  hearts  of  all  the 
people  as  through  the  medium  of  the  public  schools. 
It  is  within  the  possibilities  for  these  schools  to  be  so 
conducted  and  utilized  that  they  shall  impart  a  love  of 
righteousness  and  of  justice  to  all  the  children  of  all  the 
people ;  shall  disseminate  among  them  a  true  spirit  of 
mutualness,  and  breathe  into  them  the  breath  of  brotherly 
love  and  of  genuine  democracy,  for  use  in  all  the  affairs 
of  life,  both  private  and  public.  That  is  what  these 
schools  were  established  to  do ;  and  that  they  must  do, 
or  yield  their  place  to  some  institution  that  can  do  what 
the  situation  demands. 

But  if  these  schools  do  this,  they  must  meet  the 
needs  of  all  the  children  of  all  the  people,  so  that, 
when  grown,  these  children,  having  become  men  and 
women,  shall  be  equal  to  a  satisfactory  adjustment  of 
the  issues  that  are  upon  them..  These  schools  can  never 
accomplish  the  purposes  they  were  made  to  fulfill  by 
devoting  the  major  part  of  their  energies  and  methods 


THE  COMMON  SENSE  OF  IT  ALL  333 

to  the  special  interest  of  a  few  of  the  children  of  a  few 
of  the  people,  no  matter  who  or  what  these  few  may  be. 
They  can  never  do  it  by  persisting  in  the  use  of  obsolete 
ways  and  tneans  which  were  primarily  fashioned  for 
the  cloister  of  an  old-time  gentility.  They  can  never 
do  it  by  following  a  psychology  that  is  based  on  the 
uniformity  of  the  human  mind,  atid  on  the  possibility  of 
environment  fashioning  every  individuality  to  a  common 
model. 

All  these  things  have  been  weighed  in  the  balance 
for  the  last  fifty  years,  and  common  sense  proclaims  the 
fact  that  they  have  been  found  wanting  in  many  re- 
spects. They  should  not  be  discarded,  any  or  all  of 
them,  merely  because  they  are  old.  Nothing  should  be 
discarded  merely  because  it  is  old.  "  Would  the  son 
discard  the  father  ?  "  Neither  should  they  be  retained 
merely  because  they  are  old.  Things  wear  out  in  this 
world.  They  have  their  day,  and  when  their  day  is 
done,  they  should  move  on.  All  that  is  good  in  them 
should  be  kept  for  the  use  of  those  who  come  after. 
All  that  has  served  its  time  should  either  be  buried  or 
hung  up  in  a  museum  of  antiquities.  This  is  simple 
common  sense,  it  is  the  truth,  and  the  truth  is  good 
enough. 

Here,  then,  it  seems  to  me,  is  the  summing  up  of  the 
whole  matter.  The  situation  demands  of  our  public 
schools  that  they  fit  all  of  the  children  of  all  of  the  people 
for  all  of  the  duties  of  life  for  which  God  has  given  them 
power.  For  such  work  all  of  the  people  contribute  a 
common  fund  which  can  rightfully  be  used  only  for  the 
common  good  of  all.  There  can  be  no  pets,  no  selec- 
tions, no  survivals  of  the  so-called  fittest  at  the  expense 
of  those  whom  a  mere  material  philosophy  would  sacri- 


334        ALL  THE   CHILDREN  OF  ALL  THE  PEOPLE 

fice  simply  because  they  are  weak.  These  schools  are 
under  the  spirit  of  the  new  law  of  love  and  mutualness, 
and  not  under  the  letter  of  the  old  law  of  domination 
and  the  dictation  of  those  who  have  the  power  of 
control. 

And  the  question  for  you  and  for  me  is,  Will  we  put 
forth  every  effort  to  exploit  these  schools,  as  the  situa- 
tion demands  ?  Will  we  be  brave  enough  to  look  for- 
ward and  upward,  and  to  push  on,  even  if  it  does  cost 
us  labor  and  struggle  and  worry  and  weariness.''  Will 
we  be  anxious  that  "  not  one  of  the  least  of  these  little 
ones  shall  perish  " ;  or  will  we  be  indifferent,  and  say, 
"  What  is  that  to  us,  every  man  for  himself,  and  the 
devil  take  the  hindermost "  ?  Will  we  be  willing  to  fol- 
low a  Moses  of  common  sense,  up  and  on,  to  God ;  or 
will  we  beg  of  some  Aaron  to  make  us  a  calf  out  of  the 
jewels  of  precedent  and  conventionality — something 
that  we  may  comfortably  worship,  and  sit  still  where 
we  are  ?  Will  we  be  genuinely  democratic  in  this 
nation  which  we  so  proudly  call  the  land  of  the  free  ;  or 
will  we  be  aristocratic  and  monarchical  in  fact,  while 
sitting  under  the  protection  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes  ? 

Brethren  and  sisters  of  every  name  and  order,  fellow 
citizens,  teachers,  fathers  and  mothers  of  this  great  Re- 
public, it  is  up  to  us !  What  are  we  going  to  do  about 
it  ?  Let's  do  the  right  thing,  the  thing  which  common 
sense  says  is  good  enough.     We  will ! 

I  have  faith  to  believe  that  the  common  sense  of  all 
our  people  will,  one  day,  put  our  public  schools  into 
such  shape  that  they  will  do  all  that  is  required  of  them  ; 
that  they  will  take  into  account  the  way  the  children  are, 
each  one  of  them,  and  that  they  will  so  teach,  train,  and 
educate  them,  that  they  will,  each  one,  fill  to  the  full  the 


THE  COMMON  SENSE  OF  IT  ALL  335 

particular  niche  in  our  Republic  which  his  or  her  own 
individuality  is  best  fitted  for. 

I  know  the  way  is  largely  untried,  that  the  seas  we 
have  to  sail  are  as  yet,  many  of  them,  uncharted.  But, 
none  the  less,  we  must  sail  them ;  for  the  goal  of  abso- 
lute  mtUnalness  in  education  is  also  named,  and  it  cannot 
be  countermanded.  There  is  nothing  left  for  us  to  do 
but  to 

"  Cut  the  hawsers  —  haul  out  —  shake  out  every  sail ! 
Steer  for  the  deep  waters  only. 

For  we  are  bound  where  mariner  has  not  yet  dared  to  go, 
And  we  will  risk  the  ship,  ourselves  and  all. 
O  daring  joy,  but  safe  !    Are  they  not  all  the  seas  of  God  ? 
O  farther,  farther,  farther,  sail ! " 


"  Is  it  a  dream  ? 
Nay,  but  the  lack  of  it  a  dream  ! 
And,  wanting  this,  life's  wealth  and  lore  a  dream, 
And  all  the  world  a  dream  !  " 


INDEX 


Ability  to  read  Latin  and  Greek  tran- 
sient, 187. 

"Absolute  pitch,"  14. 

Academic  credentials  no  proof  of  teach- 
ing ability,  245. 

Academies  and  high  schools,  11 5-1 23. 

"Accredited  schools,"  how  they  origi- 
nated, 124-125. 

Actress  who  could  not  "make  change," 

9- 

Adequate  training  for  teachers,  241. 

"A  fool  for  a  player,"  62. 

Agassiz,  Louis,  9. 

Aimless  methods  of  study,  228. 

"All-around  man"  a  back  number,  235. 

All  is  cared  for,  loi. 

All  or  nothing,  103. 

All  those  in  "authority,"  279. 

American  stomach.  Public  schools  the, 

319- 
"Analysis"  and  reading,  295. 
Animating  spirit,  105. 
"Arrested  development,"  72. 
"Art  for  art's  sake"  and  literature, 

298. 
Artist  in  color,  not  in  tone,  256. 
Art  of  reading,  how  acquired,  294. 
Art  of  teaching  not  to  be  learned  from 

books,  312. 
Atlantic  Monthly,  85. 
Author-book -and-date  lists,  301. 
Authorities  good  as  means,  313. 
Author's  ability  to  memorize,  16. 
Author's  health  broken  by  excess  of 

memory  work,  212. 
Auto-cyclopedias,  226. 
Ayers,  Leonard  P.,  132. 

B 

Babel  of  modem  voices,  330. 
Babies  not  all  alike,  2. 


"Balance  sheet"  as  a  pedagogic  factor, 
307. 

Bankers  and  memory,  224. 

Barber,  A  successful,  258. 

Basic  law  of  evolution,  105. 

Basic  principles  to  all  religions,  320. 

Basis  of  authority,  281. 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  17. 

Beginning  class  in  German,  309. 

Bible  and  the  public  schools,  323-324. 

Bible,  Tribute  to  the,  225. 

Bigotry  makes  trouble  regarding  re- 
ligion and  the  public  schools,  319. 

Billions  of  new-made  wealth  in  the 
hands  of  the  few,  331. 

B inner,  Paul,  269. 

Bishop  who  could  not  spell,  8. 

"Black  beast"  of  schoolrooms,  258. 

Blank  paper  turned  to  gold,  331. 

Blind  handwriting  and  "thought  con- 
tent," 295. 

Blind  Tom,  15,  24,  211. 

Blunderers,  36. 

Bodily  conditions  limit  mental  possi- 
bilities, 47,  51. 

Bodine,  Professor,  on  truancy,  284. 

Body  and  mind  not  the  same,  41. 

Book  for  religious  reading  in  public 
school,  225. 

Book  lessons,  how  assigned,  218. 

Books,  how  to  use  them,  224.  >' 

Bom-not-made  principle  universal,  31. 

"Borrowing"  in  subtraction,  310. 

Botch  an  abomination,  174. 

"Bouquets  of  good  deeds,"  277,  286. 

Boy  blind  in  one  eye,  93. 

Boy  who  became  expert  in  chemistry, 
183. 

Boy  who  could  not  leam  multiplication 
tables,  6. 

Boy  who  could  not  read  aloud,  5. 

Boy  who  suddenly  became  able  to  read, 

85. 
Boy  with  crushed  skull,  92. 


337 


338 


INDEX 


Boys  naturally  "short"  in  grammar 
and  rhetoric,  193. 

Brain  and  thought,  41. 

Brain  injury.  Some  results  of,  49. 

Brain  specialization,  44. 

Breeding  in  the  human  family  uncer- 
tain, 253. 

Brushes  made  by  idiotic  boys,  275. 

"Bubble  of  heredity,"  253. 

Bucke,  Dr.  R.  M.,  54,  55. 

Burbank,  Luther,  253. 

Business  proposition,  The  public 
schools  a,  238. 


Calling  of  teachers  greatest  of  all,  292. 
"Call  no  man  master,"  313. 
Cause  and  effect,  143. 
Changes  in  methods  suggested,  155. 
Chaperon,  Genesis  of,  317. 
Character  and  the  schools,  205. 
Character,  Definition  of,  205. 
Charitable  institutions,  Public  schools 

not,  238. 
Cheating  on  examinations,  225. 
Chesterfieldian  manners,  293. 
Chicago  to  Boston  on  a  wheel,  283. 
Child's  mind  not  like  a  piece  of  blank 

paper,  119. 
China  abandons  memory  tests,  226. 
Citizens,  how  made  valuable,  290. 
City  streets  and  college  graduates,  137. 
Class  microbe,  how  exterminated,  318. 
Class  tendency  in  high  schools,  147. 
Clear   thinking    only    possible    where 

there  is  natural  aptitude,  292. 
Cloister  and  old-time  gentility,  333. 
Cob  webbed  tuning  fork,  183. 
Cock-sure  teachers,  279. 
Coeducation,  316. 
Colburn,  Zera,  14,  23. 
College-entrance  examination.  Reason- 
able extent  of,  227. 
"College-feeders, "  117. 
College  president  who  cannot  tell  right 

hand  from  left,  8,  26. 
Colleges  must  not  dictate  courses  of 

study  for  public  schools,  194. 
Colleges  not  "the  only"  educational 

institutions,  194. 


Colleges  not  attacked,  194. 

Color-blind  boy,  4. 

Columbus  and  the  world's  map,  292. 

Commencement,  Origin  of,  124. 

Commissioner  of  Education  who  can- 
not spell,  8,  26. 

Common  sense,  a  definition,  328. 

Comparative  efficiency  of  certain 
schools  noted,  135. 

Comparing  our  children  with  others, 
258. 

Competition  and  initial  ability,  33. 

Compulsion  as  chief  factor  in  present 
educational  system,  120. 

Congenital  gifts  and  deprivations,  28. 

Congenital  "shortage"  rarely  over- 
come, 262. 

Conservatism  of  the  educational  world, 
113. 

Corporal  punishment,  156. 

Course  of  study,  how  formulated, 
121. 

Courses  of  study,  no  uniform  ones  for 
public  schools,  196. 

Cranks,  64. 

Credentials,  Educational,  199. 

"Credit"  diplomas,  200. 

"Criminal  classes,"  82. 

Criminal  lawyer's  testimony,  74. 

Criminals'  view  of  their  own  crimes, 

73- 
Criticism  an  unpleasant  task,  139. 
Crochet  girl,  15,  24. 
Crowbar  and  Marconi  point,  185. 
"Cultured  gentleman"  merely,  231. 
"Cultural"    studies   vs.   "vocational" 

studies,  293. 
Cut-and-dried    plans    of    parents    for 

children's  future,  252. 
Cyclopedias  for  the  millions,  226. 


D 


Darwin,  Charles,  253. 
Date-holder,  Attempt  to  make  a,  213. 
Death  and  life,  102. 
Death,  Purport  of,  103. 
Declaration  of  Independence,  118. 
Deeds,  not  diplomas,  199. 
Definite  purpose  in  study,  228. 
Definition  of  educated  people,  162. 


INDEX 


339 


Degrees  and  titles,  Educational,  igg. 
Dehumanized  examinations  of  teachers, 

247. 
Demands    which    the    public    schools 

must  meet,  332. 
Democratic  literature,  303. 
Details  must  be  mastered,  232. 
Dictionary,  its  proper  use  in  language 

study  and  examinations,  2ig. 
DiflSculty      in     getting      well-trained 

teachers,  240. 
Diplomas,  "Credit,"  200. 
Diplomas  no  proof  of  teaching  ability, 

246. 
Distribution  of  wealth  a  vital  issue  of 

the  times,  330. 
Divine  possibilities  in  teaching  litera- 
ture, 302. 
Doctor-politicians,  274. 
Doctrine  of  freedom  saves  the  nation, 

280. 
Dogma  and  dicta,  143. 
Domestic  economy  to  be  taught  in  the 

grades,  204. 
Drudgery  and  virtue,  286. 


Each  in  his  own  place  sufficient,  106. 

Earning  capacity  counts  in  business 
life,  230. 

"Easy  way"  good  in  some  cases,  311. 

Eau  Claire,  Wis.,  schools,  270. 

Economic  waste  basket,  A  place  for, 
290. 

Edison,  Thomas,  61. 

Educated  people.  Current  ideas  regard- 
ing, 161. 

Educated  people  ?  Who  are,  159. 

Educational  values,  186. 

"Elective"  principle  to  be  extended  to 
public  schools,  149. 

"Elective"  principle  to  serve  in  all 
grades,  ig6. 

Eliot,  Charles,  ex-president,  188. 

Ellis,  Havelock,  76. 

Emerson,  R.  W.,  on  teaching,  302. 

Encyclopedia,  its  use,  212. 

Engineers,  Examination  of,  244. 

Engine  handling  and  school  teaching 
compared,  245. 


Eternal  order  of  things  the  only  basis 
of  authority,  281. 

Everett,  Edward,  219. 

Every  child  to  be  classically  edu- 
cated (?),  115. 

Examination  papers,  how  some  teach- 
ers mark  them,  222. 

Examinations  in  books  without  books, 
why?  222. 

Exceptional  cases  of  "longs,"  17. 

Expense  of  elective  work  to  be  pro- 
vided for,  204. 

Experiences,  ideals,  Uterature,  and  hu- 
manity, 300. 

Extreme  and  mean  ratio,  a  test,  221. 

Eye  glasses,  why  worn,  52. 

"Eye  gymnastics"  of  small  value,  296. 

Eyeless  children  can  never  be  made  to 
see,  263. 


Failure,  a  terrible  word,  233. 

Fair  tests  of  ability,  just  and  right, 

216. 
Faith  in  the  future  of  public  schools, 

334- 

Falling  off  of  graduates  holding  college- 
entrance  diplomas,  136. 

False  impressions  regarding  the  possi- 
bilities of  idiots,  96. 

Fan  manipulation,  293. 

Farmers  who  move  to  town  to  educate 
their  children,  173. 

Fashion  as  a  determiner  of  vocation, 
257- 

Fatalism?  102. 

"Feeble-minded,"  a  misnomer,  50. 

"  Feed  my  lambs,"  157. 

Feminine  life  and  machinery,  142. 

Fickleness  in  choice  of  studies,  202. 

"Finger  exercise"  and  mechanical 
reading,  296. 

Fixed  courses  of  study  vs.  "electives," 
200. 

Foreign  children  assimilated  in  public 
schools,  146. 

Foreign  origin  of  American  educational 
methods,  141. 

Form  and  substance  in  literature, 
297. 


340 


INDEX 


Fossils    and    mummies    in    literature, 

298. 
Foundation  for  faith,  100. 
Franklin,  Ben,  39. 
"Free  agency,"  68. 
French,  Ability  to  read,  188. 
Friction  regarding  morals  and  religion, 

316. 

G 

Galesburg  high  school,  202. 
Galesburg,  111.,  school  statistics,  133. 
Gambling  case  noted,  68. 
Gardenhire,  Robert,  12,  22,  23,  61. 
Gastman,  E.  A.,  5. 
Genius  and  idiocy,  62. 
Genius,  Definition  of,  65. 
Geniuses  poor  teachers,  65. 
"Gentleman  and  scholar,"  232. 
Geography  teaching  as  a  moral  force, 

323- 

Geometry  and  college-entrance  ex- 
amination, 220. 

German  taught  and  no  English  word 
spoken,  309. 

Girl  bom  blind,  15,  51,  60. 

Girls,  excess  of,  in  high  schools,  170. 

Glass,  copper,  and  electric  currents, 
38. 

"God  and  circumstances,"  278. 

God-born  impulses  vs.  parental  de- 
sires, 258. 

Goddard,  Henry  H.,  262. 

God's  laws  never  apologize,  205. 

God's  way  wins,  257. 

"Good  education,"  Just  a,  231. 

"Go  slow"  principle  in  pedagogy,  306. 

Grace  in  women,  293. 

Grades  under  new  order,  155. 

Grading  pupils  according  to  size  I  131. 

Grading  pupils,  how  to  do  it,  197, 
198. 

Graduating  addresses,  128. 

"Graft,"  no  place  for  it  in  public 
schools,  193. 

Grant,  U.  S.,  9,  24. 

Grammar  and  real  estate,  33. 

Graven-image  literature,  297. 

Graves  useful  institutions,  298. 

Great  Worker,  The,  102. 

Grundy,  Mrs.,  259. 


H 


Hall,  Frank,  15. 

Hall,  G.  Stanley,  72,  89. 

"Hands  off!"  308. 

Hard  hands  and  marriage,  170. 

"Has-been"  literature,  298. 

Haste     in     determining     "shortage" 

deprecated,  83. 
"Have  I  passed?"  215. 
"Head  master,"  153. 
Heaven,  Definition  of,  108. 
Heaven  on  earth,  208. 
Hell,  Definition  of,  103. 
"Helps  and  hints"  for  teachers,  312. 
"He  maketh  all  things  by  number," 

321,  322. 
Heredity,  253. 
Hero,  The  real,  260. 
High  schools  college-feeders,  117. 
History,  How   to  test   knowledge  of, 

223. 
History  teaching  as  a  moral  force,  323. 
Home  life,  A  fitting  for,  208. 
Honor  due  founders  of  public  schools, 

113. 
Hopeless  doctrine  ?  94. 
Hotel  life  and  institutions,  269. 
House  that  Jack  built,  123. 
How  a  human  being  is  valuable,  290. 
How  to  view  the  "bom  short,"  79. 
Howe,  Julia  Ward,  9. 
Human  authority  labeled  God's  will, 

279. 
Human  body  a  machine,  41. 
"Humanities,  The,"  186. 
"Humming,"  Responsive,  178. 
"Hum"  values,  185. 


"Idiot,"  Meaning  of  the  word,  50. 
Idiots,  false  impression  regarding  their 

possibilities,  96. 
Idiots  and  geniuses,  62. 
Idiots  not  "fools,"  63. 
Ignorance-is-bliss  theory  regarding  sex, 

317- 

lUinois,  Report  of  Educational  Depart- 
ment,, 133. 

Illiuois  State  University  diplomas,  199. 


INDEX 


341 


Imperfect  brain  or  nervous  organism, 

45. 
Inability  and  laziness,  283. 
Inalienable  individual  rights,  152. 
"Incompetents,"  Criminals  a  herd  of, 

72. 
Industrial  work  not  suited  to  the  needs 

of  all  children,  207. 
Influence  for  good  of  right  literature 

teaching,  301. 
Initial  ability  necessary  for  successful 

competition,  33. 
Inquisition,  The,  220. 
Insane  women  cured  by  surgical  opera- 
tion, 53,  54- 
Insanity  a  bodily  ailment,  53. 
Insanity  treated  as  a  crime,  68. 
Inspiration  for  true  teachers,  2g2. 
Institutions  for  the  specially  "short," 

261. 
"Institutions"  like  big  hotels,  269. 
Internal  Animating  Spirit,  105. 
"Is  it  a  dream?"  335. 
Italian  children,  191,  192. 


James,  William,  77. 

Japan  abolishes  memory  tests,  226. 

Jealousies  among  parents  and  pupils, 

258. 
Jealousy  and  brain  surgery,  56. 
Jesus  left  nothing  in  writing,  217. 
Jesus'  view  of  wrongdoers,  75. 
"John  and  the  old  man,"  278. 
Joint   counsel  in  determining  what  a 

child  should  study,  202. 
Judge  who  could  not  "tell  time,"  8, 

25. 
Jungle  of  morals  and  religion,  315. 


Knox,  George  Piatt,  265. 


Labor  a  blessing,  174. 
"Laggards  in  our  schools,"  132. 
Language  should  express  ideas,  298. 
Laissez /aire,  216. 


Latin  demanded  of  high  school  gradu- 
ates, 145. 

Latin  races  and  mathematics,  191, 

Lawyers  and  memory,  224. 

Laziness  and  heart  weakness,  282. 

Lazy  age  for  all  children,  284. 

Learn  to  teach  by  teaching,  248. 

Legs,  Good  and  bad,  83. 

Lexicon  and  grammar  as  tools  in  lan- 
guage study,  219. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  advice  to  a  yoimg 
man,  36. 

Lincoln  not  college  bred,  161. 

Literary  graveyards,  302. 

Literary  standing,  Test  of,  225. 

Literature,  A  definition  of,  297. 

Literature  and  reading,  294. 

Literature,  Hatred  of,  how  begotten, 
225. 

Literature,  how  sometimes  taught,  225. 

Literature  worth  teaching.  Test  of,  301. 

Liver  and  bile,  41 . 

Live  teaching  and  dead  teaching  of 
literature,  302. 

"Livings"  assured,  199. 

Localization  of  functional  parts  of  the 
brain,  48. 

Locke's  theory  of  the  mind,  118. 

Locomotive  firemen,  31. 

Logical   basis  of  present  educational 
system,  119,  120. 

Lombroso,  82. 

Lonesomeness  of  children  who  leave 
institutions,  269. 

"Longage"  and  "shortage"  may  vary 
with  age,  84. 

"Look  it  up!"  309. 

Lope  de  Vega,  15. 

Love  for  pupils,  237. 

Love  of  books,  302. 

Love  of  righteousness,  320. 

Lowell,  James  Russell,  236. 

Lower  end  of  New  York  and  the  public 
schools,  319. 

M 

Machinery  a  new  factor  in  civilized 

life,  142. 
Magazines,    domestic    economy    and 

manual  training,  241. 
"Making  acts,"  277. 


342 


INDEX 


Makers  of  democracy,  318. 
Manipulation,  A  definition  of,  287. 
Mann,  Horace,  no,  114. 
Mann's,  Horace,  definition  of  desirable 

citizens,  322. 
Manual  labor  for  its  own  sake,  177. 
Manual  training  as  a  character-builder, 

205. 
Manual  training  as  a  source  of  culture, 

189. 
Manual  training  courses  of  study  hard 

to  determine,  240. 
Manual  training  keeps  pupils  in  schools, 

189. 
Marconi,  177. 
Martyrs,  how  made,  278. 
Masculine  life  and  machinery,  142. 
Matching  boards,  205. 
Materialized  humanity,  109. 
Mathematical  boy  of  six,  11. 
Matron's  story  in  Imbecile  Asylum, 

273- 
McKinley's  assassin,  81. 
"Memories,  The,"  210. 
Memory   counted   as  chief  factor   in 

education,  122. 
Memory  examination,  when  fair,  219. 
Memory  knowledge  and  manual  labor, 

169. 
Memory  not  a  regal  trait,  209. 
Memory  not  like  a  safety  vault,  but 

like  a  sponge,  220. 
Memory  reckoned  as  a  storehouse,  122. 
Memory  not  relied  upon  by  practical 

men,  210. 
Mental  attitude  toward  criminals,  80. 
Mental  possibilities  limited  by  bodily 

conditions,  47. 
Merchant's  story  of  his  two  sons,  229. 
Mercy  must  be  limited,  280. 
"Methods"    must    be    servants,    not 

masters,  312. 
"Might    makes    right"    no    part    of 

democracy,  332. 
Military  spirit  as  a  factor  in  formation 

of  our  educational  system,  119. 
Millais,  15. 

Milwaukee  schools  for  "shorts,"  269. 
Mingling  of   social   grades  in  school, 

317- 
Ministry  of  evil.  The,  106. 


Minuteness  of  grade  work  determined, 
121. 

Mission  of  the  public  school  as  a  social 
force,  318. 

Mistaken  methods  of  treating  "shorts" 
in  special  schools  for  their  benefit, 
266. 

Mixed  population  in  United  States,  144. 

Mixing  grades,  266. 

Monarchical  literature,  299. 

Morals  in  school,  316. 

"Moral  suasion"  sometimes  insuffi- 
cient, 285. 

Mozart,  15. 

Muddling  pupils'  minds,  how  done, 
307. 

Musical  father  and  non-musical  daugh- 
ter, 254,  25s. 

Musician  and  piano,  42. 

"  Muse  migrate  from  Greece  and  Ionia," 
303- 

Mutualness  the  spirit  of  democracy, 
107. 

Myers,  Dr.  F.  W.  H.,  on  the  "sub- 
liminal self,"  58. 

Myers'  "Human  Personality,"  59. 

Myth  of  the  "wholly  normal"  and 
"perfectly  rounded,"  2. 


N 


Nagging  criticisms,  304. 

Nascitur  non  fit,  28. 

Native  abilities  may  be  slow  in  reveal- 
ing themselves,  292. 

Natural  aptitude  and  manipulation, 
292. 

N.  E.  A.  and  a  religious  reading  book, 
326. 

Negative  way  for  determining  vocation, 

259- 

Negro  children  "short"  on  logical 
ability,  193. 

"New  Education,  The,"  237. 

Newness  of  attempt  to  educate  every- 
body, no. 

Newspapers  and  magazines  as  educa- 
tive factors,  223. 

Night  ride  with  "Old  Mike,"  163. 

Non-religious  schools,  how  obviated, 
326, 


INDEX 


343 


Nothing  should  be  discarded  or  re- 
tained simply  because  it  is  old,  333. 
Nye,  Bill,  la^  ?  284. 
Nye,  Bill,  on  Lincoln,  162, 


Obedience  and  morality,  316. 

Obedience  and  virtue,  278. 

Object  of  all  work,  102. 

"Odds-and-ends"  rooms,  265. 

Olmstead,  Professor,  211. 

Omnipotence  the  desire  of  all  hu- 
manity, 279. 

One  bird  at  a  time,  236. 

One-sided  people,  235. 

One-sided  people.  Small  danger  of 
making,  182. 

"Onto  his  job,"  165. 

Opinions  regarding  "shorts"  and 
"longs,"  20. 

Oral  reading,  296. 

Original  manipulation,  291. 

Origin  of  memory  examinations,  217. 


Palmer,  Professor  A.  M.,  238. 

Parents'  preconceived  ideas  of  their 
children's  abilities,  251. 

Parker,  Col.  Francis,  94. 

Parnassus  placarded,  303. 

"Passed  for  us,"  299. 

"Passionless  pursuit  of  passionless  in- 
telligence," 197. 

Patriotism,  not  politics,  taught  to  chil- 
dren in  public  schools,  320. 

Peace  the  best  way  for  reforms  to 
come,  330. 

Pedagogic  viewpoint  of  educational 
values,  186. 

People  now  think  for  themselves,  143. 

"Perfectly  rounded,"  a  myth,  2. 

Permanency  of  place  in  teaching  pro- 
fession, 199. 

Personal  equation  ignored  in  educa- 
tional methods,  140. 

PersonaUty  first  requisite  for  a  good 
teacher,  248. 

Personal  relations  of  teachers  and 
pupils,  237. 


Pets,  God  has  none,  153. 

Phillips,  Wendell,  22. 

Philosophy  of  the  art  of  reading,  295. 

Physical  organs  and  their  functions,  41. 

Physical  signs  of  criminality,  82. 

Piano  and  human  body  compared,  45. 

Piano  and  musician,  42. 

Platitudes,  Retailers  of,  298. 

Plato,  186. 

Pocketbook  nerve  as  a  corrective  of 

poor  pedagogy,  308. 
"Poems  distilled  from  poems,"  303. 
Polite  bearing  in  men,  293. 
Political  control  of  "institutions"  — 

A  protest,  272. 
Poverty  no  just  claim  for  position  as 

teacher,  238. 
Precedent  and  conventionality,  328. 
Prenatal  desires,  and  their  effect  on 

progeny,  251. 
Primitive     manipulation     narrow     in 

range,  289. 
Principals  under  new  order,  155. 
Printing  press  as  a  maker  of  wealth, 

331- 
Procession,  All  a,  104. 
Professional  men  brought  to  a  test  of 

efl&ciency,  167. 
Professor  Pierce  of  Harvard,  9. 
Progress   of   humanity    measured   by 

manipulation,  287. 
Proletariat  and  aristocracy,  331. 
Pronoimced   mental   quaUties   seldom 

transmitted  to  children,  254. 
Proof  of  good  methods  of  teaching,  314. 
Proper  place  for  "short"  children  to 

grow  up,  269. 
Proselyting  no  place  in  public  schools, 

320. 
Protests  against  the  "elective"  system 

in  colleges,  149. 
Psychology  of  reading,  295. 
"Public  be  damned.  The,"  331. 
Public  opinion  to  be  aroused  in  favor 

of  elective  work  in  public  schools, 

204. 
Public    schools    as    a    democratizing 

power,  147. 
Public  schools  as  a  social  force,  318. 
Public  schools  not  charitable  institu- 
tions, 238. 


344 


INDEX 


Public  schools  the  seed  bed  for  good 

literature,  304. 
Pullman  story,  A,  2  2g. 
Punctuality,  281. 

Punishments  under  new  order,  156. 
Pupils  may  recite  in  different  grades, 

266. 
Purposeless  education,  234. 
Purpose  of  writing  "All  the  Children," 

329. 
Purport  of  death,  103. 


Querulous  critics,  Danger  of  making, 
303. 


Races  which  lack  ability  to  vibrate  in 

some  planes,  191. 
Racks  and  thumbscrews,  215. 
Railroad  managers,  243. 
Railroad  trains  and  college  graduates, 

137- 
Range  of  "bom  short"  phenomena,  3. 
Reading  and  literature,  294. 
Reading,  Mechanical  mastery  of  the 

art  of,  295. 
Reading  the  Bible  in  public  schools, 

323,  324- 
Real  estate  agent  and  grammar,  33. 
Reasons  for  falling  off  of  pupils  in  the 

grades,  130. 
Relic  literature,  298. 
Religion  and  a  "square  deal,"  223. 
Religious   freedom   the   basis   of   our 

Republic,  224. 
Report   of   United   States  Bureau   of 

Education,  132. 
Repplier,  Agnes,  277. 
"Rhymes  and  rhymers  pass  away," 

303- 
Rubbish  heap  for  once  good  material, 

A,  290. 
Russell  Sage  Foundation,  132. 


"Sartor  Resartus,"  15. 

Scholastic  work  without  purpose,  229. 

Schoolmaster  vs.  school-teacher,  153. 


Schools  must  "fit"  the  children,  150. 

Schools  can  transmit  manipulative 
ability,  289. 

Scientific  thought,  A  result  of,  143. 

Seas  uncharted,  335. 

Sectarian  bias  of  teachers,  225. 

Sectarianism  no  place  in  public  schools, 
224. 

"Seeds  for  superior  growths,"  157. 

Selecting  a  life  work,  235. 

"Self-government"  in  public  schools, 
286. 

Selfishness  the  compelling  force  of 
monarchy,  105. 

Sewing  and  cooking  as  character- 
builders,  206. 

Sex  considered  a  mistake,  316. 

Shakespeare's  plays  and  royalty,  299. 

Shaler,  N.  S.,  9. 

Shaw,  Bernard,  254. 

Shooting  prairie  chickens,  236. 

Shortcomings  of  schools,  why  they 
should  be  forgiven,  318. 

"Shorts"  on  some  lines  may  be  "long" 
on  others,  26. 

"Shorts"  not  confined  to  any  class, 
81. 

Sickle,  The,  142. 

Sidis,  Boris,  77. 

Sidis,  Wm.  James,  15. 

Sieve,  Mind  like  a,  220. 

Silent  reading,  296. 

Sin,  Forgiveness  of,  213. 

Singing  of  denominational  and  sec- 
tarian hymns  not  to  be  permitted 
in  pubUc  schools,  326. 

Situation,  not  a  theory.  A,  331. 

Slaves,  how  made,  280. 

Smuggling,  73. 

Social  force  of  public  schools,  318. 

Socrates,  217. 

Special  appliance  used  for  reaching 
universal  results,  141. 

Specialization  for  life  work,  235. 

Sperry,  Dr.,  84. 

Spirit  of  democracy  as  related  to  edu- 
cation, 112. 

Spirit  of  God  in  literature,  297. 

Spirit  of  school  management  must  be 
changed,  153. 

Square  pegs  and  roimd  holes,  33, 


INDEX 


345 


St.  Paul,  Minn.,  schools,  271. 

St.  Peter  Sandstone  foundation,  100. 

St.  Louis'  special  schools  for  "shorts," 

265. 
Standards  of  scholarship,  ig8. 
"Stand  patters,"  280. 
Stanley,  Dean,  6. 

State  Boards  of  Examination,  247. 
Statistics  regarding  school  enrollment, 

etc.,  135. 
SteaUng  melons,  72. 
Stillman,  Dr.  W.  J.,  Case  of,  85,  89. 
Stillman,  Dr.  W.  J.,  theory  regarding 

his  case,  88. 
Stone-age  father.  The,  289. 
Story  teaching,  in  place  of  doing  things 

told  of,  289. 
Study    of   literature   retarded,    why? 

305. 
Style  in  literature  that  abides,  300. 
"Subliminal  self,"  The,  58. 
Success  of  American  Republic  depends 

on  its  literature,  304. 
Suggestion   as  to   book   for   religious 

reading  in  public  schools,  225. 
Suicide,  A  case  of,  75. 
Summing  up  of  the  whole  matter  of 

public  education,  333. 
Sumner,  Charles,  9,  22,  61. 
Superintendent  of  Institution  for  the 

Blind,  Testimony  of,  268. 
Superintendents  under  new  order,  155. 
Supreme    questions    regarding    public 

schools,  334. 
"Survival  of  the  fittest,"  157. 
Square-knot  tying  as  a  test  of  teaching 

ability,  306. 
Sympathetic  vibration,  176. 
"System's"    idea  of  vibration,   The, 

180. 


Tabula  rasa,  118. 

Tangled  telephone,  53. 

Tardy  boy  with  weak  heart,  282. 

Tasso,  15. 

Teachers  and  geniuses,  65. 

Teachers  who  taught  only  what  they 

knew,  218. 
Teacher  who  could  not  tell  right  hand 

from  left,  8,  26. 


Teacher  who  could  not  "tell  time,"  7, 

as- 
Teaching,  a  profession,  241. 

Teaching  and  manipulation,  288. 

Teaching  blunders  not  palpable,  245. 

"Teaching  is  teaching !"  276. 

Tennyson  and  his  work,  300. 

Tentative  hypothesis.  A,  39. 

Testimony  of  Superintendent  of  In- 
stitution for  the  Blind,  268. 

Test  of  character,  205. 

Themes,  Literary,  and  their  distinctions, 
300. 

Theoretical  training  for  the  art  of 
teaching  insufficient,  243. 

Theory  as  to  the  nature  of  the  human 
mind,  40. 

Theory  regarding  the  case  of  Dr.  W.  J. 
Stillman,  89. 

Theosophists,  255. 

Thief  on  the  cross,  78. 

Three  lessons  on  laziness,  283. 

Three  new  factors  in  modem  life,  141. 

Thrones  founded  on  the  idea  of  service, 
171. 

"Thought  content"  of  reading,  295. 

Time  for  manual  training  work  in 
course  of  study,  how  acquired,  226. 

Tone-deaf  girl,  4. 

"Town  meeting"  plan  of  government, 
144. 

Training  of  engineers,  242. 

Traitors  defined,  224. 

Transient  ability  to  read  Latin  and 
Greek,  187. 

Transmission  of  the  art  of  manipula- 
tion possible,  288. 

Tribute  to  the  Bible,  225. 

Truancy  in  Chicago,  284. 

Truancy  laws,  285. 

Tuning  fork  illustration,  178. 

Typewriter  a  moral  force,  206. 

Tyranny  of  compulsion.  The,  278. 

Tyrants,  how  they  justify  themselves, 
279. 

U 

Ultimate  questions  regarding  public 
schoob,  334. 

Uniform  and  multiform  college  diplo- 
mas, 144. 


346 


INDEX 


Uniform  curriculum  in  public  schools  a 

thing  of  the  past,  148. 
University,   Lowell's  definition   of   a, 

236. 
Unreliability  of  memory  210. 
Untried  ways,  335. 
Unyielding  system.  An,  154. 
Utilitarian  view  of  literature,  297. 


Versatility  of  many  people.  The,  32. 
"Vital  religious  fire,"  227. 
"Vocational"    studies   vs.    "cultural" 

studies,  2g3. 
Voice  of  God  in  the  soul,  313. 
Vox  populi,  vox  Dei,  229. 

W 

Walking  encyclopedias,  150. 
Waste  basket.  An  economic,  290, 
Webster,  Daniel,  15. 
"What  man  has  done,  man  can  do," 
119. 


Whitman,  Walt,  on  idiots,  95. 
Whitman,  Walt,  on  work,  168. 
"Wholly  normal"  a  myth,  The,  2. 
Why  names  of  some  "shorts"  cannot 

be  given,  26. 
Wickedness  of  holding  pupils  to  work 

they  do  not  vibrate  to,  190. 
"Winners"  in  any  business  must  be 

"bom ;  not  made,"  30. 
Wireless  telegraph  instrument  made  by 

boy  of  fourteen,  291. 
Wireless  telegraphy,  177. 
Womb  of  democracy,  The,  318. 
Words  for  words'  sake  of  no  account, 

297. 
Work,  why  it  is  looked  down  upon, 

172. 
Work  a  necessity  for  most  people,  171. 
Work  counted  a  curse,  170. 
Workers  with  God,  102. 
Working  with  God,  108. 
"World  on  wheels,"  164. 
"Worst  hole  in  the  house,"  273. 
Written   examinations   do   not   prove 

teaching  ability,  245. 


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Of  Instruction.     By  George  Collar  and  Charles  W.  Crook,  London. 

Cloth.     i2mo.     via  +  33b  pages.     $1.00  net. 

CRONSON,  Bernard.  Methods  in  Elementary  School  Studies.  By  Bernard  Cron- 
son,  A.B.,  Ph.D.,  Principal  of  Public  School  No.  3,  Borough  of  Manhattan,  City  of 
New  York.  Cloth.    j2mo.    jfyj  pages.    $i.zj  net. 

Pupil  Self  •Government.  Cloth.    i2mo.    ix  +  ia;  pages.    $.Qonet. 

CUBBERLEY.  Syllabus  of  Lectures  on  the  History  of  Education.  With  Selected 
Bibliographies  and  Suggested  Readings.  By  EUwood  P.  Cubberley.  Second  Edition, 
levised  and  enlarged.    In  two  parts. 

Part  I,  V  +  I2Q pages,  $1.^0  net;  Part  It,  xv+ 361  pages,  $t.so  net. 
Complete  in  one  volume,  $2.60  net. 

DE  GARMQ,  Qukles.  Interest  and  Education.  By  Charles  De  Garmo,  Professor 
of  the  Sdenoe  and  Art  of  Education  in  Cornell  University. 

Cloth.    i2ino.    xvii+  230  Pages.    $1.00  net. 

The  Principles  of  Secondary  Education. 

Vol.  I,  Studies.     Cloth.    limo,  xii-^aqq  pages.  $1.25  net. 

Vol.  II,  Processes  of  Instruction.  xii+200  Pages.  $t.oo  net. 

Vol.  Ill,  Ethical  Tratning.  x  +  220  pages.  $1.00  net. 

DEXTER,  EpwiN  Grant.  A  History  of  Education  in  the  United  States.  By 
Edwia  Qxtat  Dexter,  Professor  of  Education  in  the  University  of  Illinois. 

Cloth.    xxi-¥t)ii5 pages.    8vo.    $2.00  net. 


A  LIST  OF  BOOKS  FOR  TEACHERS  —  Continued 


DUTTON,  Samuel  T.    Social  Phases  of  Education  in  the  School  and  the  Home 

By  Samuel  T.  Dutton,  Superinteudent  of  the  Horace  Mann  Schools,  New  York. 

CiotA.    i2mo.     ix  +  2^q  pages.    $i.sj  net. 

DUTTON  &  SNEDDEN.  The  Administration  of  Public  Education  in  the  United 
States.  By  Samuel  Train  Dutton,  A.M.,  and  David  Snedden,  Ph.D.  With  an 
Introduction  by  Nicholas  Murray  Butler,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

Cloth.     viii+^Qj  pages.     Bibliography.     Index.    l2mo.    $i.j^net. 

FITCH,  Sir  Joshua.  Educational  Aims  and  Methods.  Lectures  and  Addresses  by 
Sir  Joshua  Fitch,  late  Her  Majesty's  Inspector  of  Training  Colleges. 

Cloth,     xit  + 1/48  pages.    j2mo.    $i.2S  net. 

Lectures  on  Teaching.  CMA.    xiu+SQj pages.    Jbmo.    $zjoonei. 

FOGHT,  Harold  W.  The  American  Rural  SchooL  By  H.  W.  Foght,  Professor  of 
Education,  Midland  College.  Cloth,    xxii+^bb  pages.    $l.2J  net, 

GANONG,  William  F.  The  Teaching  Botanist.  By  William  F.  Ganong,  Ph.D., 
Smith  College.  Cloth.    j3mo.    Rewritten  ed.    xii+ 444 pages.     $/.2j  net. 

GILMAN,  Mary  L.  Seat  Work  and  Industrial  Occupations.  A  Practical  Course  for 
Primary  Grades.  By  Mary  L.  Gilman,  Principal  of  the  Clay  School,  Minneapolis, 
Minn-.,  and  Elizabeth  L.  Williams,  Principal  of  the  Holmes  School,  Minneapolis, 
Minn.  Fully  illustrated.     Cloth.     141  pages.    Square  i2mo.    %.S0  net, 

GRAVES,  Frank  P.  A  History  of  Education  before  the  Middle  Ages.  By  Frank 
Pierrepont  Graves,  Ohio  State  University. 

Cloth.    320 pages.    Bibliography.    $1.10  net. 

A  History  of  Education  during  the  Middle  Ages.       Cloth,  376 Pages,  $1,10  net, 

HALLECK,  REtraEN  Post.  The  Education  of  the  Central  Nervous  System.  A 
Study  of  Foundations,  especially  of  Sensory  and  Motor  Training. 

Cloth.    J2mo.    xii  +  2s8  pages.    $1.00  net. 

HANUS,  Paul  H.  A  Modem  School.  By  Paul  H.  Hanus,  Professor  of  the  History 
and  Art  of  Teaching  in  Harvard  University. 

Cloth.    l2mo.    x+ 30b  pages.    $l.2j  net. 

Educational  Aims  and  Educational  Values.    By  Paul  H.  Hanus. 

Cloth.    i2mo.    vii  +  221  pages.    $1.00  net. 

HENDERSON,  Ersest  N.  The  Principles  of  Education.  By  Ernest  Norton  Hen- 
derson, Professor  of  Education  and  Philosophy  in  Adelphi  College,  Brooklyn. 

Cloth.    8vo.    xiv  +jyo  pages.    $i.jj  net. 

HERB.ART,  John  Frederick.  Outlines  of  Educational  Doctrine.  By  John  Fred- 
erick Herbart.  Translated  by  Alex.  F.  Lange,  Associate  Professor  of  English  and 
Scandinavian  Philology  and  Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  the  College  of  Letters,  University 
of  California.  Annoted  by  Charles  De  Garmo,  Professor  of  the  Science  and  Art  of 
Education,  Cornell  University.      Cloth.     Large  l2tno.     xi+ 334 pages.     $I.2S  net. 

HERRICK,  Chees.mav  A.  The  Meaning  and  Practice  of  Commercial  Education. 
By  Cheesman  A.  Herrick,  Ph.D.,  Director  of  School  of  Commerce,  Philadelphia 
Central  High  School.  Cloth.     xv+ 378  Pages.     l2mo.    $i.2j  net. 

HORNE,  Herman  Harrell.  The  Philosophy  of  Education.  By  Herman  Harrell 
Home,  Assistant  Professor  of  Philosophy  and  Pedagogy  in  Dartmouth  College. 

Cloth.    8vo.    xvii  +  3qs  pages.     $i.jo  net. 

The  Psychological  Principles  of  Education.  i2mo.   xiii+ 43s pages.   1 1.7s  net. 

Idealism  in  Education.  Cloth.    i2mo.    xxi-¥  183  pages.    $i.2j  net 


A  LIST  OF  BOOKS  FOR  TEACHERS  —  Contimed 


HUEY,  Edmund  B.  The  Psychology  and  Pedagogy  of  Reading.  By  Professot 
Edmund  B.  Huey,  of  the  Western  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

Cloth,    izmo.    xvi  -^  4bg pages.     $140  net, 

JONES,  Olive  M.,  LEARY,  Eleanor  G.,  and  QUISH,  Agnes  E.  Teaching  Children 
to  Study.     The  Group  System  applied. 

lUustrated.     Cloth,     viii-^  iqs pages,    jsmo.    $.80  net. 

KILPATRICK,  Van  Eveie.    Departmental  Teaching  in  Elementary  Schools. 

Cloth,    izmo.     xtu  + 130 pages,    ibmo.    $.60  net. 

KIRKPATRICK,  Edwin  A,  Fundamentals  of  Child  Study.  By  Professor  Edwin 
A.  Kirkpatrick,  Principal  of  State  Normal  School,  Fitchburg,  Mass. 

Cloth,    jzmo.     xxt  +  384  pages.    $i.2j  net, 

Genetic  Psychology.  Cloth.    xv  + 373 pages,    ti.ssnet. 

LAURIE,  S.  S.    Institutes  of  Education. 

3d  ed.     Cloth.    XU  +  3QI  pages.    $i.qonet. 

MAJOR,  David  R.  First  Steps  in  Mental  Growth.  A  Series  of  Studies  in  the  Psy- 
chology of  Infancy.  By  David  R.  Major,  Professor  of  Education  in  the  Ohio  State 
University.  Cloth,    xiv  +  360  pages.    j2mo.    $1.2^  net, 

THE   McMURRY   SERIES  Each,  ctoth,  t2mo. 

General  Method 

The  Elements  of  General  Method.    By  Charles  A.  McMurry. 

323  pages.    $.gonet. 

-—  The  Method  of  the  Recitation.  By  Charles  A.  McMurry  and  Frank  M.  McMurry, 
Professor  of  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Teaching,  Teachers  College,  Columbia  Uni- 
versity. xt+32Q  pages.    $.gonet. 

Special  Method.     By  Charles  A.  McMurry. 

Special  Method  in  Primary  Reading  and  Oral  Work  with  Stories. 

vii  + 103 pages.  $.60  net. 

■ —  Special  Method  in  the  Reading  of  English  Classics.     vt  +  254  pages.  $.7^  net. 

Special  Method  in  Language  in  the  Eight  Grades.    viu  +  iq2  pages.  $.70  net. 

Special  Method  in  History.                                           vti+  2qi  pages.  $.75  net. 

Special  Method  in  Arithmetic.                                     vii+ 225 pages.  $.70  net. 

Special  Method  in  Geography.                                      xi+  217 pages.  $.70  net. 

Special  Method  in  Elementary  Science.                        ix  +  275 pages.  $.75  net. 

Nature  Study  Lessons  for  Primary  Grades.    By  Mrs.  Lida  B.  McMurry,  with 

an  Introduction  by  Charles  A.  McMurry.                              xi-V  iqi pages.  $.60  ntt. 

Course  of  Study  in  the  Eight  Grades. 

Vol.1.     Grades  I  to  IV.        vii+ 23b pages.    $.7s  net. 
Vol.  IT.    Grades  V  to  VIII.    v  + 22b  pages.    $.7S  net. 

MONROE,  Paul.  A  Brief  Course  in  the  History  of  Education.  By  Paul  Monroe, 
Ph.D.,  Professor  in  the  History  of  Education,  Teachers  College,  Columbia  Univer- 
sity. Cloth.    8vo,    xvui+40Q  pages.    $i.2S  net 


A  LIST  OF  BOOKS  FOR  TEACHERS -^  Continued 


MONROE,  Paul,    A  Text-boolc  in  the  History  of  Education. 

Cloi/t.     xxiii -V  2fjT  pages,    isnto.     fi.gon*t, 

A  Source  Book  of  the  HistOiy  of  Education.     For  the  Greek  and  Roman  Period. 

CUiA.    jctiz'+jij  pages.    8vo.    $2.2S  net. 

O'SHEA,  M.  V.  Dynamic  Factors  in  Education.  By  M.  V.  O'Shca,  Professor  oi 
the  Science  and  Art  of  Education,  University  of  Wisconsin. 

CiotA.    i2mo.    xiii +320 pages.    $r.2s  net 

Linguistic  Development  and  Education. 

CiotA.    ismo.    xvii+  34/ pages.    $i.2j  net. 

PARK,  Joseph  C.  Educational  Woodworking  for  Home  and  School.  By  Joseph  C 
Park,  State  Normal  and  Training  School,  Oswego,  N.Y. 

C/otA.    i2mo.    xiii+ 210  pages,  illus.    $i.oonet. 

PERRY,  ARTHim  C.  The  Management  of  a  City  School.  By  Arthur  C.  Perry,  Jr., 
Ph.D.,  Principal  of  Public  School,  No.  8s,  Brooklyn,  N.Y. 

ClotA.    izmo.    viii + 3S0  pages.    $i.2j  net. 

ROWE,  Stuart  H.  The  Physical  Nature  of  the  Child.  By  Dr.  Stuart  H.  Rowe, 
Professor  of  Psychology  and  the  History  of  Education,  Training  School  for  Teach- 
ers, Brooklyn,  N.Y.  CiotA.     i2mo.     vi+ 211  pages.    $.qonet. 

ROYCE,  JosiAH.  Outlines  of  Psychology.  An  Elementary  Treatise  with  Some  Prac 
tical  Applications,  By  Josiah  Royce,  Professor  of  the  History  of  Philosophy  in 
Harvard  University.  ClctA.     i2tno.    xxvit+3q2  pages.    $j.gonet. 

SHAW,  Edward  R.    School  Hygiene.     By  the  late  Edward  R,  Shaw. 

ClotA.    vii+2S5  pages.    i2mo.    $i.oonet, 

SHURTER,  Edwin  DuBois.  The  Rhetoric  of  Oratory.  By  the  Associate  Professor 
of  Public  Speaking  in  the  University  of  Texas. 

ClotA.    323  pages.    i2mo.    $1.10  net. 

SINCLAIR,  S.  B.  and  Tracy  F.  Introductory  Educational  Psychology.  A  Book 
for  Teachers  in  Training.  ClotA.    iSo  pages.    $  u)0  net. 

SMITH,  David  E.  The  Teaching  of  Elementary  Mathematics.  By  David  E.  Smith, 
Professor  of  Mathematics,  Teachers  College,  Columbia  University. 

ClotA.    XV +  312  pages.    j2mo.    $1.00  net. 

SNEDDEN  AND  ALLEN.  School  Reports  and  School  Efficiency.  By  David  S. 
Sneddon,  Ph  D.,  and  William  H.  Allen,  Ph.D.  For  the  New  York  Committee  on 
Physical  Welfare  of  School  Children.        Cloth.     l2mo.    xt  + 183  pages.     $/.jo  net. 

VANDEWALKER,  Nina  C.  The  Kindergarten  in  AmerJcan  Education.  By  Nina 
C.  Vandewalker,  Director  of  Kindergarten  Training  Department,  Milwaukee  State 
Normal  School.  ClotA.     xz/i+ 274 pages.     Portr.,  index,  i2nto.    $j.2jnet. 

WARNER,  Francis.  The  Study  of  Children  and  Their  School  Training.  By 
Francis  Warner.  ClotA.     xtx  +  264  pages.    l2tno.    $1.00  net, 

WINTERBURN  and  BARR.  Methods  in  Teaching.  Being  the  Stockton  Methods 
in  Elementary  Schools.  By  Mrs.  Rosa  V.  Winterbum,  of  Los  Angeles,  and 
James  A-  Barr,  Superintendent  of  Schools  at  Stockton.  Cal. 

ClotA.    xii-\r  35s  pages.    t2m«.    $I.^  net. 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

Publishers  64-66  Fifth  Avenue  New  York 


A  Cyclopedia  of  Education 

Edited  by  PAUL  MONROE,  Ph.D. 

Professor  of  the  History  of  Education,  Teachers  College,  Columbia  University; 

Author  of  "A  Text-Book  in  the  History  of  Education,"  "  Brief 

Course  in  the  History  of  Education,"  etc. 


The  need  of  soch  work  is  evidenced :  By  the  great  mass  of  varied  educational 
literature  showing  an  equal  range  in  educational  practice  and  theory;  by 
the  growing  importance  of  the  school  as  a  social  institution,  and  the  fuller 
recognition  of  education  as  a  social  process ;  and  by  the  great  increase  in 
the  number  of  teachers  and  the  instability  of  tenure  which  at  the  same 
time  marks  the  profession. 

The  men  who  need  it  are :  All  teachers,  professional  men,  editors,  ministers, 
legislators,  all  public  men  who  deal  with  large  questions  of  public  welfare 
intimately  connected  with  education  —  every  one  who  appreciates  The  value 
of  a  reference  work  which  will  give  him  the  outlines  of  any  educational 
problem,  the  suggested  solutions,  the  statistical  information,  and  in  general 
the  essential  facts  necessary  to  its  comprehension. 

Among  the  departmental  Editors  associated  with  Dr.  Monroe  are  Dr.  Elmer 
E.  Brown,  U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Education,  Prof.  E.  F.  BtrcHNER,  of 
Johns  Hopkins,  Dr.  Wm.  H.  BURNHAM,  Clark  University,  M.  GABRIEL 
COMPAYRE,  Inspector-General  of  Public  Instruction,  Paris,  France,  Prof. 
WiLHELM  MiJNCH,  of  Berlin  University,  Germany,  Prof.  JOHN  DEWEY,  of 
Columbia  University,  Dr.  Ellwood  P.  CUBBERLY,  Stanford  University, 
Cal.,  Prof.  Foster  Watson,  of  the  University  College  of  Wales,  Dr. 
David  Snedden,  Commissioner  of  Education  for  the  State  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  others. 

Send  for  a  descriptive  circular  and  list  of  contributors  to  Volume  I 


To  be  completed  in  five  large  octavo  volumes,  each  $5.00  nei 


THE   MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

64-66  Fifth  Avenue,  New  Tork 


